UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


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THE   CONQUEST   OF 
THE   GREAT   NORTHWEST 


7  5  3  0      9  "f 


Collier's  famous  picture  of  Hudson's  Last  Hours. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE 
GREAT  NORTHWEST 


Being  the  story  of  the  ADVENTURERS  OF  ENGLAND 
knoivn  ai  THE  HUDSON'S  BAT  COMPANY.  Ne^  pages 
in  the  history  of  the  Canadian  Northtuest  and  Western  State/ 


BY 

AGNES   C.    LAUT 

A  ulhor  c/  "  Lords  of  the  North," 
"  Fath^finders  of  the  West,"'  et:. 


TWO  VOLUMES  IN  ONE 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

MCMXIV 


33023 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
THE  OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London,  England 
All  Rights  Reserved 

NEW  EDITION  IN  ONE  VOLUME 
October,  igii 


TNC   OUINN   «   tODEN    CO.    PRESS 
RAHWAY,  N.  t. 


F 

u57 


TO 

G.  C.  L. 

and 
C.  M.  A. 


CONTENTS   OF   VOLUME   I 

PART   I 
CHAPTER   I 

PAOE 

Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage  .....       3 

CHAPTER    n 
Hudson's  Second  Voyage  .         .         .16 

CHAPTER    III 
Hudson's  Third  Voyage  .  .  .  .  .  .26 

CHAPTER    IV 
Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage         .  .  .  .  -49 

CHAPTER   V 

The    Adventures    of    the    Danes    on    Hudson    Bay — Jens 

Munck's  Crew  .  .  .  .  .  -7^ 

PART    II 

CHAPTER   VI 

Radisson,    the    Pathfinder,    Discovers    Hudson    Bay    and 

Founds  the  Company  of  Gentlemen  Adventurers         .     97 

CHAPTER   VII 

The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage — Radisson  Driven 
Back  Organizes  the  Hudson  s  Bay  Company  and 
Writes  his  Journals  of  Four  Voyages — The  Charter 
and  the  First  Shareholders — Adventures  of  Radisson 
on  the  Bay — The  Coming  of  the  French  and  the 
Quarrel  .  .  .in 

ix 


Contents 

CHAPTER   VIII 

PAGB 

"Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" — Lords  of  the 
Outer  Marches — Two  Centuries  of  Company  Rule — 
Secret  Oaths — The  Use  of  Whiskey — The  Matrimonial 
Offices — The  Part  the  Company  Played  in  the  Game 
of  International  Juggling — How  Trade  and  Voyages 
Were  Conducted      .......    132 

CHAPTER   IX 

If  Radisson  Can  Do  Without  the  Adventurers,  the  Adven- 
turers Cannot  Do  Without  Radisson — The  Eruption 
of  the  French  on  the  Bay — The  Beginning  of  the 
Raiders  ........   163 

CHAPTER   X 

The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson,  Find  it  Cheaper  to 
Have  him  as  a  Friend  than  Enemy  and  Invite  him 
Back — The  Real  Reason  Why  Ramsson  Returned — 
The  Treachery  of  Statecraft — Young  Chouart  Out- 
raged, Nurses  his  Wrath  and  Gayly  Comes  on  the 
Scene  Monsieur  P^r^ — Scout  and  Spy         .  .  .180 

CHAPTER   XI 

Wherein  the  Reasons  for  Young  Chouart  Groseiller's 
Mysterious  Message  to  Our  Good  Friend  "P6r6"  are 
Explained — The  Forest  Rovers  of  New  France  Raid 
the  Bay  by  Sea  and  Land — Two  Ships  Sunk — Pdr^, 
the  Spy,  Seized  and  Sent  to  England  .  .  .198 

CHAPTER   XII 
Pierre  le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay       .  .  .211 

CHAPTER   XIII 
D'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay  {continued)     ....   228 

CHAPTER   XIV 

What    Became    of    Radisson? — New    Facts    on    the    Last 

Days  of  the  Famous  Pathfinder  .  .  .256 

X 


Contents 


PART  III 
CHAPTER   XV 

PAOB 

The  First  Attempts  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore — 
Henry  Kelsey  Penetrates  as  far  as  the  Valley  of  the 
Saskatchewan — Sanford  and  Arrington,  Known  as 
"Red  Cap,"  Found  Henley  House  Inland  from  Albany 
— Beset  from  Without,  the  Company  is  also  Beset 
from  Within — Petitions  Against  the  Charter — Increase 
of  Capital — Restoration  of  the  Bay  from  France         .   277 

CHAPTER   XVI 

Old  Captain  Knight,  Beset  by  Gold  Fever,  Hears  the  Call  of 
the  North— The  Straits  and  Bay — The  First  Harvest 
of  the  Sea  at  Dead  Man's  Island — Castaways  for 
Three  Years — ^The  Company,  Beset  by  Gold  Fever, 
Increases  its  Stock — Pays  Ten  Per  Cent,  on  Twice 
Trebled  Capital — Coming  of  Spies  Again  .  .298 

CHAPTER   XVII 

The  Company's  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition — Arthur 
Dobbs  and  the  Northwest  Passage  and  the  Attack  on 
the  Charter — No  Northwest  Passage  is  Found,  but 
the  French  Spur  the  English  to  Renewed  Activity     .  320 

CHAPTER   XVIII 

The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins — ^The  Company 
Sends  a  Man  to  the  Blackfeet  of  the  South  Saskatche- 
wan— Anthony  Hendry  is  the  First  Englishman  to 
Penetrate  to  the  Saskatchewan — The  First  Englishman 
to  Winter  West  of  Lake  Winnipeg— He  Meets  the 
Sioux  and  the  Blackfeet  and  Invites  them  to  the  Bay  334 

»         CHAPTER    XIX 

Extension  of  Trade  toward  Labrador,  Quebec  and  Rockies 
— Heame  Finds  the  Athabasca  Country  and  Founds 
Cumberland  House  on  the  Saskatchewan — Cocking 
Proceeds  to  the  Blackfeet — Howse  Finds  the  Pass  in 
Rockies  ......••   355 

xi 


Contents 


CHAPTER  XX 

PAGE 

"The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" — "A  New  Race  of  Wood- 
rovers  Throngs  to  the  Northwest — Bandits  of  the 
Wilds  War  Among  Themselves — Tales  of  Border  War- 
fare, Wassail  and  Grandeur — The  New  Northwest 
Company  Challenges  the  Authority  and  Feudalism  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 389 


Xii 


FOREWORD 

IT  HAS  become  almost  a  truism  to  say  that  no 
complete  account  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Adven- 
turers has  yet  been  written.  I  have  often 
wondered  if  the  people  who  repeated  that  statement 
knew  what  they  meant.  The  empire  of  the  fur  trade 
Adventurers  was  not  confined  to  Rupert's  Land,  as 
specified  by  their  charter.  Lords  of  the  Outer 
Marches,  these  gay  Gentlemen  Adventurers  setting 
sail  over  the  seas  of  the  Unknown,  Soldiers  of  Fortune 
with  a  laugh  for  life  or  death  carving  a  path  through 
the  wilderness — were  not  to  be  checked  by  the  mere 
fiction  of  limits  set  by  a  charter.  They  followed  the 
rivers  of  their  bay  south  to  the  height  of  land,  and 
looking  over  it  saw  the  unoccupied  territory  of  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Upper  Mississippi.  It  was 
American  territory;  but  what  did  that  matter?  Over 
they  marched  and  took  possession  in  Minnesota  and 
the  two  Dakotas  and  Montana.  This  region  was 
reached  by  way  of  Albany  River.  Then  they  fol- 
lowed the  Saskatchewan  up  and  looked  over  its 
height  of  land.  To  the  north  were  MacKenzie 
River  and  the  Yukon;   to  the  west,  the  Fraser  and 

XV 


Foreword 

the  Columbia.  By  no  feat  of  imagination  could  the 
charter  be  stretched  to  these  regions,  Canadian 
merchants  were  on  the  field  in  MacKenzie  River. 
Russians  claimed  Alaska,  Americans  claimed  Ore- 
gon down  as  far  as  the  Spanish  Settlements;  but 
these  things  did  not  matter.  The  Hudson's  Bay 
Adventurers  went  over  the  barriers  of  mountains  and 
statecraft,  and  founding  their  fur  empire  of  wild- 
wood  rovers,  took  toll  of  the  wilderness  in  cargoes  of 
precious  furs  outvaluing  all  the  taxes  ever  collected 
by  a  conqueror.  All  this  was  not  enough.  South  of 
the  Columbia  was  an  unknown  region  the  size  of  half 
Europe — California,  Nevada,  Utah,  Wyoming,  Idaho. 
The  wildwood  rovers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Adven- 
turers swept  south  in  pack-horse  brigades  of  two-  and 
three-hundreds  from  the  Columbia  to  Monterey. 
Where  Utah  railroads  now  run,  their  trappers  found 
the  trail.  Where  gold  seekers  toiled  to  death  across 
Nevada  deserts,  Hudson's  Bay  trappers  had  long 
before  marched  in  dusty  caravans  sweeping  the  wil- 
derness of  beaver.  Where  San  Francisco  stands  to- 
day, the  English  Adventurers  once  owned  a  thousand- 
acre  farm.  By  a  bold  stroke  of  statecraft,  they  had 
hoped  to  buy  up  Mexico's  bad  debts  and  trade  those 
debts  for  proprietary  rights  in  California,  The  story 
of  why  they  failed  is  theme  for  novelist  or  poet  rather 
than  historian.     Suffice  to  say,  their  Southern  Bri- 

xvi 


Foreword 

gades,  disguised  as  Spanish  horsemen,  often  went 
south  as  far  as  Monterey.  Yet  more!  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  Adventurers  had  a  station  half  way  across 
the  Pacific  in  Hawaii. 

In  all,  how  large  was  their  fur  empire?  Larger, 
by  actual  measurement,  much  larger,  than  Europe. 
Now  what  person  would  risk  reputation  by  saying 
no  complete  account  had  yet  been  written  of  all 
Europe?  The  thing  is  so  manifestly  impossible,  it 
is  absurd.  Not  one  complete  account,  but  hundreds 
of  volumes  on  different  episodes  will  go  to  the  making 
of  such  a  complete  history.  So  is  it  of  the  vast  area 
ruled  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  The  time 
will  come  when  each  district  will  demand  as  separate 
treatment  as  a  Germany,  or  a  France  or  an  Italy  in 
its  history.  All  that  can  be  attempted  in  one  volume 
or  one  series  of  volumes  is  the  portrayal  of  a  single 
movement,  or  a  single  episode,  or  a  single  character. 
In  this  account,  I  have  attempted  to  tell  the  story 
of  the  Company  only  as  adventurer,  pathfinder,  em- 
pire-builder, from  Rupert's  Land  to  California — 
feudal  lord  Ix^aten  off  the  field  by  democracy.  Where 
the  empire-builder  merges  with  the  colonizer  and 
pioneer,  I  have  stopped  in  each  case.  In  Manitoba, 
the  passing  of  the  Company  was  marked  by  the  Riel 
Rebellion;  in  British  Columbia,  by  the  mad  gold 
stampede;    in   Oregon,   by   the   terrible   Whitman 

xvii 


Foreword 

massacres;  in  California,  by  the' fall  of  Spanish 
power.  All  these  are  dramas  in  themselves  worthy 
of  poet  or  novelist;  but  they  are  not  germane  to  the 
Adventurers.  Therefore,  they  are  not  given  here. 
Who  takes  up  the  story  where  I  leave  ofif,  must  hang 
the  narrative  on  these  pegs.  '  i 

Another  intentional  omission.  From  the  time  the 
Adventurers  wrote  off  ;^ioo,ooo  loss  for  search  of  the 
North- West  Passage,  Arctic  Exploration  has  no  part 
in  this  story.  In  itself,  it  is  an  enthralling  story; 
but  to  give  even  the  most  scrappy  reference  to  it 
here  would  necessitate  crowding  out  essential  parts 
of  the  Adventurers'  record — such  as  McLoughlin's 
transmontane  empire,  or  the  account  of  the  South 
Bound  Brigades.  Therefore,  latter  day  Arctic  work 
has  no  mention  here.  For  the  same  reason,  I  have 
been  compelled  to  omit  the  dramatic  story  of  the 
early  missions.     These  merit  a  book  to  themselves. 

Throughout — with  the  exception  of  four  chapters, 
I  may  say  altogether— I  have  relied  for  the  thread 
of  my  narrative  on  the  documents  in  Hudson's  Bay 
House,  London;  the  Minute  Books  of  some  two 
hundred  years,  the  Letter  Books,  the  Stock  Books, 
the  Memorial  Books,  the  Daily  Journals  kept  by 
chief  factors  at  every  post  and  sent  to  London  from 
1670.    These  documents  are  in  tons.    They  are  not 

xviii 


Foreword 

open  to  the  public.  They  are  unclassified;  and  in 
the  case  of  Minute  Books  are  in  duplicates,  "the 
Foule  Minutes" — as  the  inscription  on  the  old  parch- 
ment describes  them — being  rough,  almost  unread- 
able, notes  jotted  down  during  proceedings  with 
interlinings  and  blottings  to  be  copied  into  the  Minute 
Books  marked  "Faire  Copie."  In  some  cases,  the 
latter  has  been  lost  or  destroyed;  and  only  the  un- 
corrected one  remains.  It  is  necessary  to  state  this 
because  discrepancies  will  be  found — noted  as  the 
story  proceeds — which  arise  from  the  fact  that  some 
volumes  of  the  corrected  minutes  have  been  lost. 
The  Minute  Books  consist  variously  from  one  to  five 
hundred  pages  each. 

Beside  the  documents  of  Hudson's  Bay  House, 
London,  there  is  a  great  mass  of  unpublished,  unex- 
ploited  material  bearing  on  the  Company  in  the 
Public  Records  Office,  London.  I  had  some  thou- 
sands of  pages  of  transcripts  of  these  made  which 
throw  marvelous  side  light  on  the  printed  records  of 
Radisson;  of  Iberville;  of  Pari.  Report  1749;  of  the 
Coltman  Report  and  Blue  Book  of  1817-22;  and  the 
Americans  in  Oregon. 

In  many  episodes,  the  story  told  here  will  differ 
almost  unrecognizably  from  accepted  versions  and 
legends  of  the  same  era.  This  is  not  by  accident. 
Nor  is  it  because  I  have  not  consulted  what  one  writer 

xi.v 


Foreword 

sarcastically  called  to  my  attention  as  "the  secondary 
authorities" — the  words  are  his,  not  mine.  Nearly 
all  these  authorities  from  earliest  to  latest  days  are 
in  my  own  library  and  interlined  from  many  read- 
ings. Where  I  have  departed  from  old  versions  of 
famous  episodes,  it  has  been  because  records  left  in 
the  handwriting  of  the  actors  themselves  compelled 
me;  as  in  the  case  of  Selkirk's  orders  about  Red 
River,  Ogden's  discoveries  in  Nevada  and  Utah 
and  California,  Thompson's  explorations  of  Idaho, 
Howse's  explorations  in  the  Rockies,  Ogden's  rob- 
bery of  the  Americans,  the  Americans'  robbery  of 
him. 

I  regret  I  have  no  clue  to  any  Spanish  version  of 
why  Glen  Rae  blew  out  his  brains  in  San  Francisco. 
On  this  episode,  I  have  relied  on  the  legends  current 
among  the  old  Hudson's  Bay  officers  and  retold  so 
well  by  Bancroft. 

To  Mr.  C.  C.  Chipman,  commissioner  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company,  to  Mr.  William  Ware,  the  sec- 
retary, and  Lord  Strathcona-and-Mount-Royal,  the 
Governor — I  owe  grateful  thanks  for  access  to  the 
H.  B.  C.  documents. 

On  the  whole,  the  record  of  the  Adventurers,  is 
not  one  to  bring  the  blush  of  regret  to  those  jealous 
for  the  Company's  honor.  It  is  a  record  of  daring 
and  courage  and  adventuring  and  pomp — in  the  best 

XX 


Foreword 

sense  of  the  words — and  of  intrigue  and  statecraft 
and  diplomacy,  too,  not  always  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  words — which  must  take  its  place  in  the  world's 
history  far  above  the  bloody  pageantry  of  Spanish 
conqueror  in  Mexico  and  Peru.  It  is  the  one  case 
where  Feudalism  played  an  important  and  successful 
r61e  in  America,  only  in  the  end  to  be  driven  from 
the  stage  by  Young  Democracy. 


XXI 


PART  I 

1610-1631 

Being  an  Account  of  the  Discoveries  in  the  Great 
Sea  of  the  North  by  Henry  Hudson  and  the  Dane, 
Jens  Munck.  How  the  Search  for  the  North- West 
Passage  Led  to  the  Opening  of  two  Regions — New 
York  and  the  North- West  Territories. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF 
THE    GREAT    NORTHWEST 

CHAPTER  I 
1607 

HENRY  HUDSON'S  FIRST  VOYAGE 

PRACTICAIv  men  scorn  the  dreamer,  espe- 
cially the  mad-souled  dreamer  who  wrecks 
life  trying  to  prove  his  dream  a  reality.  Yet 
the  mad-souled  dreamer,  the  Poet  of  Action  whose 
poem  has  been  his  life,  the  Hunter  who  has  chased 
the  Idea  down  the  Long  Trail  where  all  tracks  point 
one  way  and  never  return — has  been  a  herald  of 
light  for  humanity. 

Of  no  one  is  this  truer  than  the  English  pilot, 
Henry  Hudson. 

Hudson  did  not  set  out  to  find  the  great  inland 
waters  that  bear  his  name — Hudson  River  and  Hud- 
son Bay.  He  set  out  to  chase  that  rainbow  myth — 
the  Pole — or  rather  the  passage  across  the  Pole.    To 

3 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

him,  as  to  all  Arctic  explorers,  the  call  had  become  a 
sort  of  obsession.  It  was  a  demon,  driving  him  in 
spite  of  himself.  It  was  a  siren  whom  he  could  not 
resist,  luring  him  to  wreck,  which  he  knew  was  cer- 
tain. It  was  a  belief  in  something  which  reason 
couldn't  prove  but  time  has  justified.  It  was  like  a 
scent  taken  up  by  a  hound  on  a  strange  trail.  He 
could  not  know  where  it  would  lead  but  because  of 
Something  in  him  and  Something  on  the  Trail,  he 
was  compelled  to  follow.  Like  the  discoverer  in 
science,  he  could  not  wait  till  his  faith  was  gilt-edged 
with  profit  before  risking  his  all  on  the  venture.  Call 
it  demon  or  destiny!  At  its  voice  he  rose  from  his 
place  and  followed  to  his  death. 

The  situation  was  this: 

Not  a  dozen  boats  had  sailed  beyond  the  Sixtieth 
degree  of  north  latitude.  From  Sixty  to  the  Pole 
was  an  area  as  great  as  Africa.  This  region  was 
absolutely  unknown.  What  did  it  hide?  Was  it 
another  new  world,  or  a  world  of  waters  giving 
access  across  the  Pole  from  Europe  to  Asia?  The 
Muscovy  Company  of  England,  the  East  India  Com- 
pany of  Holland,  both  knew  the  Greenland  of  the 
Danes;  and  sent  their  ships  to  fish  at  Spitzbergen, 
east  of  Greenland.  But  was  Greenland  an  island, 
or  a  great  continent?    Were  Spitzbergen  and  Green- 

4 


Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage 

land  parts  of  a  vast  Polar  land?  Did  the  mountains 
wreathed  there  in  eternal  mists  conceal  the  wealth 
of  a  second  Peru?  Below  the  endless  swamps  of 
ice,  would  men  find  gold  sands?  And  when  one  fol- 
lowed up  the  long  coast  of  the  east  shore — as  long  as 
from  Florida  to  Maine — where  the  Danish  colonies 
had  perished  of  cold  centuries  ago — what  beyond? 
A  continent,  or  the  Pole,  or  the  mystic  realm  of  frost 
peopled  by  the  monsters  of  Saga  myth,  where  the 
Goddess  of  Death  held  pitiless  sway  and  the  shores 
were  lined  with  the  dead  who  had  dared  to  invade 
her  realm?  Why  these*  questions  should  have 
pierced  the  peace  of  Henry  Hudson,  the  English 
pilot,  and  possessed  him — can  no  more  be  explained 
than  the  Something  on  the  Trail  that  compels  Some- 
thing in  the  hound. 

1  Like  other  dreamers, .  Hudson  had  to  put  his 
dreams  in  harness;  hitch  his  Idea  to  every  day  uses, 
The  Muscovy  Company  trading  to  Russia  wanted  to 
find  a  short  way  across  the  Pole  to  China.  Hudson 
had  worked  up  from  sailor  to  pilot  and  pilot  to  master 
on  the  Dutch  traders,  and  was  commissioned  to  seek 
the  passage.  The  Company  furnished  him  with  a 
crew  of  eleven  including  his  own  boy,  John.  It 
would  be  ridiculous  if  it  were  not  so  pathetic — these 
simple  sailors  undertaking  a  venture  that  has  baffled 
every  great  navigator  since  time  began. 

5 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northivest 

Led  by  Hudson  with  the  fire  of  a  great  faith  in  his 
eyes,  the  men  solemnly  marched  to  Saint  Ethelburge 
Church  off  Bishopgate  Street,  London,  to  partake 
of  Holy  Communion  and  ask  God's  aid.  Back  to 
the  muddy  water-front  opposite  the  Tower;  a  gold 
coin  for  last  drinks;  a  hearty  God-speed  from  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Muscovy  Company  pompous  in 
self-importance  and  lace  ruffles — and  the  little  crew 
steps  into  a  clumsy  river  boat  with  brick-red  sails. 
One  gentleman  opines  with  a  pinch  of  snuff  that  it 
may  be  "this  many  a  day  before  Master  Hudson 
returns."  Riffraff  loafers *crane  necks  to  see  to  the 
last.  Cursing  watermen  clear  the  course  by  thump- 
ing other  rivermen  out  of  the  way.  The  boat  slips 
under  the  bridge  down  the  wide  flood  of  the  yeasty 
Thames  through  a  forest  of  masts  and  sails  of  as 
many  colors  as  Joseph's  coat. 

It  is  like  a  great  sewer  of  humanity,  this  river  tide 
with  its  city's  traffic  of  a  thousand  years.  Farmers 
rafting  down  loads  of  hay,  market  women  punting 
themselves  along  with  boat  loads  of  vegetables,  fish- 
ing schooners  breasting  the  tide  with  full-blown  sails, 
high-hulled  galleons  from  Spain,  flat-bottomed, 
rickety  tubs  from  the  Zee,  gay  little  craft— barges  with 
bunting,  wherries  with  lovers,  rowboats  with  nothing 
more  substantial  than  silk  awnings  for  a  sail — ^jostle 
and  throng  and  bump  each  other  as  Hudson's  crew 

6 


Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage 

shoots  down  with  the  tide.     Not  a  man  of  the  crew 
but  wonders — is  he  seeing  it  all  for  the  last  time? 

But  here  is  the  Muscovy  Company's  ship  all  newly 
rigged  waiting  at  Gravesend,  absurdly  small  for  such 
a  venture  on  such  a  sea.  Then,  in  the  clanking  of 
anchor  chains  and  sing-song  of  the  capstan  and  last 
shouts  of  the  noisy  rivermen,  apprehensions  are  for- 
gotten. Can  they  but  find  a  short  route  to  China, 
their  homely  little  craft  may  plough  back  with  as 
rich  cargo  as  ever  Spanish  caravel  brought  from 
the  fabulous  South  Sea.  The  full  tide  heaves  and 
rocks  and  bears  out ;  a  mad-souled  dreamer  standing 
at  the  prow  with  his  little  son,  who  is  very  silent. 
The  air  is  fraught  with  something  too  big  for  words. 
May  first,  1607,  Hudson  is  ofT  for  the  Pole.  He 
might  as  wtll  have  been  following  the  Flying  Dutch- 
man, or  ballooning  to  the  moon. 

The  city  along  the  banks  of  the  Thames  has 
presently  thinned  to  towns.  The  towns  slide  past 
into  villages.  The  villages  blur  into  meadow  lands 
with  the  thatch  roof  of  the  farmer's  cot;  and  before 
night,  the  last  harlx>r  light  has  been  left  in  the  offing. 
The  little  ship  has  headed  her  carved  prow  north. 
The  billows  of  the  North  Sea  roll  to  meet  her.  Dark- 
ness falls  with  no  sound  but  the  swish  of  the  waters 
against  the  ports,  the  hum  of  the  wind  through  the 

7 


I  The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

rigging,   and   the  whirring  flap  of  the  great  sails 
shifting  to  catch  the  breeze. 

For  six  weeks,  north,  north-west,  they  drove  over 
the  tumbling  world  of  waters,  sliding  from  crest  to 
trough,  from  blue  hollow  to  curdling  wave-top,  plough- 
ing a  watery  furrow  into  the  region  of  long,  white 
light  and  shortening  nights,  and  fogs  that  lay  without 
lifting  once  in  twenty  days.  The  farther  north  they 
sailed,  the  tighter  drew  the  cords  of  cold,  like  a  violin 
string  stretched  till  it  fairly  snapped — air  full  of  pure 
ozone  that  set  the  blood  jumping  and  finger-tips 
tingling!  Green  spray  froze  the  sails  stiff  as  boards. 
The  rigging  became  ropes  of  ice,  the  ship  a  ghost 
gliding  white  through  the  fogs.  At  last  came  a 
squall  that  rolled  the  mists  up  like  a  scroll,  and 
straight  ahead,  high  and  lonely  as  cloud-banks, 
towered  the  white  peaks  of  Greenland's  mountains. 
Though  it  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  it  was 
broad  daylight,  and  the  whole  crew  came  scrambling 
up  the  hatches  to  the  shout  of  "Land!"  Hudson 
enthusiastically  named  the  mountain  "God's  Mercy" ; 
but  the  lift  of  mist  uncurtained  to  the  astonished 
gaze  of  the  English  sailors  a  greater  wonder  than  the 
mountains.  North,  south,  east,  west,  the  ship  was 
embayed  in  an  ice- world — ice  in  islands  and  hills  and 
valleys  with  lakes  and  rivers  of  fresh  water  flowing 
over  the  surface.     Birds  flocked  overhead  with  lonely 

8 


Henry  H nelson's  First  Voyage 

screams  at  these  human  intruders  on  a  realm  as 
white  and  silent  as  death ;  and  where  one  crystal  berg 
was  lighted  to  gold  by  the  sun,  a  huge  polar  bear 
hulked  to  its  highest  peak  and  surveyed  the  new- 
comers in  as  much  astonishment  at  them  as  they  felt 
at  him.  Truly,  this  was  the  Ultima  Thule  of  poet's 
dream — beyond  the  footsteps  of  man.  Blue  was  the 
sky  above,  blue  the  patches  of  ocean  below,  blue  the 
illimitable  fields  of  ice,  blue  and  lifeless  and  cold  as 
steel.  The  men  passed  that  day  jubilant  as  boys 
out  of  school.  Some  went  gunning  for  the  birds. 
Others  would  have  pursued  the  polar  bear  but  with 
a  splash  the  great  creature  dived  into  the  sea.  The 
crew  took  advantage  of  the  pools  of  fresh  water  in 
the  ice  to  fill  their  casks  with  drinking  water.  For 
the  next  twenty-four  hours,  Hudson  crept  among  the 
ice  floes  by  throwing  out  a  hook  on  the  ice,  then 
hauling  up  to  it  by  cable. 

By  night  the  sea  was  churning  the  ice  in  choppy 
waves,  with  a  growl  of  wind  through  the  mast,  and 
the  crew  wakened  the  next  morning  to  find  a  hurri- 
cane of  sleet  had  wiped  out  the  land".  The  huge 
floes  were  turning  somersets  in  the  rough  sea  with  a 
banging  that  threatened  to  smash  the  little  ship  into 
a  crushed  egg  shell.  Under  bare  poles,  she  drove 
before  the  wind  for  open  sea. 

As  she  scudded  from  the  crush  of  the  tumbling 

9 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ice,  Hudson  remarked  something  extraordinary  in 
the  conduct  of  his  ship.  Veering  about,  sails  down, 
there  was  no  mistaking  it — she  was  drifting  against 
the  wind!  As  the  storm  subsided,  it  became  plainer:' 
the  wind  was  carrying  in  one  direction,  the  sea  was 
carrying  in  another.  Hudson  had  discovered  that 
current  across  the  Pole,  which  was  to  play  such  an 
important  part  with  Nansen  three  hundred  years 
later.  Icebergs  were  floating  against  the  wind,  too, 
laboriously,  with  apparently  aimless  circlings  round 
and  round,  but  circles  that  carried  them  forward 
against  the  wind,  and  the  ship  was  presently  moored 
to  a  great  icepan  drifting  along  with  the  undertow. 

Then  the  curse  of  all  Arctic  voyagers  fell  on  the 
sea — fog  thick  to  the  touch  as  wool,  through  which 
the  icebergs  glided  like  phantoms  with  a  great  crash 
of  waters,  where  the  surf  beat  on  the  floes.  Never 
mind!  Their  anchor- hold  acts  as  a  breakwater. 
They  are  sheltered  from  the  turmoil  of  the  waves 
outside  the  ice.  And  they  are  still  headed  north. 
And  they  are  up  to  Seventy-three  along  a  coast,  which 
no  chart  has  ever  before  recorded,  no  chart  but  the 
myths  of  death's  realm.  As  the  coast  might  prove 
treacherous  if  the  ice  began  thumping  inland,  Hud- 
son names  the  region  "Hold  Hope,"  which  may  be 
interpreted,  ''Keep  up  your  Courage." 

Ice  and  fog,  fog  and  ice,  and  the  eternal  silences 

10 


Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage 

but  for  the  thunder  of  the  floes  banging  the  ports; 
up  to  Seventy-five  by  noon  of  June  25,  when  the 
sailors  notice  that  the  floundering  clumsy  grampus 
are  playing  mad  pranks  about  the  ship.  The  glisten- 
ing brown  backs  race  round  the  prow  and  somerset 
bodily  out  of  the  water  in  a  very  deviltry  of  sauciness! 
Cafl  it  sailors'  superstition,  but  when  the  grampus 
schools  play,  your  Northern  crew  looks  for  storm,  and 
by  noon  of  June  26,  the  storm  is  there  pounding  the 
hull  like  thunder  and  shrieking  through  the  rigging. 
Not  a  good  place  to  be,  between  land  and  ice  in  hurri- 
cane! Hudson  scampers  for  the  sea,  still  north, 
but  driven  out  east  by  the  trend  of  Greenland's 
coast  along  an  unbroken  barrier  of  ice  that  seems  to 
link  Greenland  to  Spitzbergen. 

No  passage  across  the  Pole  this  way!  That  is 
certain!  But  there  is  a  current  across  the  Pole! 
That,  too,  is  certain !  And  Greenland  is  as  long  as  a 
continent.  So  driving  before  the  storm,  Hudson 
steers  east  for  Spitzbergen.  In  July,  it  is  warmer, 
but  heat  brings  more  ice,  and  the  man  at  the  mast- 
head on  the  lookout  for  land  up  at  Seventy-nine 
could  not  know  that  a  submerged  iceberg  was  going 
to  turn  a  somerset  directly  under  the  keel.  There 
was  a  splintering  crash.  Something  struck  the  keel 
like  a  cannon  shot.  Up  reared  the  little  boat  on  end 
like  a  frightened  horse.    When  the  waters  plunged 

II 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

down  two  great  bergs  had  risen  one  on  each  side 
of  the  quivering  ship  and  a  jagged  gash  gaped  through 
the  timbers  at  water  Hne.  Water  slushed  over  decks 
in  a  cataract.  The  yardarms  are  still  dipping  and 
dripping  to  the  churning  seas  when  the  crew  leaps 
out  to  a  man,  some  on  the  ice,  some  in  small  boats, 
some  astraddle  of  driftwood  to  stop  the  leak  in  the 
bottom.  As  they  toil — and  they  toil  in  desperation, 
for  the  safety  of  the  ship  is  their  only  possibility  of 
reaching  home — they  notice  it  again — wood  drifting 
against  the  wind,  the  undertow  of  some  great  un- 
known Polar  Current. 

Hudson  cannot  wait  for  this  current  to  carry  him 
toward  the  Pole,  as  Nansen  did.  Up  he  tacks  to 
Eighty-two,  within  eight  degrees  of  the  baffling  Pole, 
within  four  degrees  of  Farthest  North  reached  by 
modern  navigators.  When  he  finds  Spitzbergen 
locked  by  the  ice  to  the  north,  he  tries  it  by  the  south. 
But  the  ice  seems  to  become  almost  a  living  enemy 
in  its  resistance.  Hudson  had  anchored  to  a  drifting 
floe.  Another  icepan  shut  ofiF  his  retreat.  Then  a 
terrific  sea  began  running — the  effect  of  the  ice  jam 
against  the  Polar  Current.  The  fog  was  so  thick 
you  could  cut  it  with  a  knife.  Not  a  breath  of  wind 
stirred.  Sails  hung  limp,  and  the  sea  was  driving 
the  ship  to  instant  destruction  against  a  jam  of  ice. 
Heaving  out  small  boats,  the  crew  rowed  for  dear 

12 


Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage 

life  towing  the  ship  out  of  the  maelstrom  by  main 
force,  but  their  puny  human  strength  was  as  child's 
play  against  the  great  powers  of  the  elements.  Back- 
wash had  carried  rowers  and  ship  and  small  boats 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  ramming  icebergs 
when  a  faint  air  breathed  through  the  fog.  Moisten- 
ing their  fingers,  the  sailors  held  up  hands  to  catch 
the  motion  of  any  breeze.  No  mistake — it  was  a 
fair  wind — right  about  sails  there — the  little  ship 
turned  tail  to  the  ice  and  was  off  like  a  bird,  for  says 
the  old  ship's  log:  "//  pleased  God  to  give  us  a  gale, 
and  away  we  steered.''^ 

The  battle  for  a  passage  seemed  hopeless.  Hud- 
son assembled  the  crew  on  decks  and  on  bended 
knees  prayed  God  to  show  which  way  to  steer.  Of 
no  region  had  the  sailors  of  that  day  greater  horror 
than  Spitzbergen.  They  began  to  recall  the  fearful 
disasters  that  had  befallen  Dutch  ships  here  but  a 
few  years  before.  Those  old  sailors'  superstitions  of 
the  North  being  the  realm  of  the  Goddess  of  Death, 
came  back  to  memory.  That  last  narrow  escape 
from  the  ice-crush  left  terror  in  the  very  marrow  of 
their  bones.  In  vain,  Hudson  once  more  suggested 
seeking  the  passage  by  Greenland.  To  the  crew, 
the  Voice  of  the  North  uttered  no  call.  Glory  was 
all  very  well,  but  they  didn't  want  glory.  They 
wanted  to  go  home.    What  was  the  good  of  chasing 

13 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

an  Idea  down  the  Long  Trail  to  a  grave  on  the  frozen 
shores  of  Death? 

When  men  begin  to  reason  that  way,  there  is  no 
answer.  You  can't  promise  them  what  you  are  not 
sure  you  will  ever  find.  The  Call  is  only  to  those 
who  have  ears  to  hear.  You  must  have  hold  of  the 
end  of  a  Golden  Thread  before  you  can  follow  the 
baffling  mazes  of  a  discoverer's  faith,  and  these  men 
hadn't  faith  in  anything  except  a  full  stomach  and 
a  sure  wage.  After  all,  their  arguments  were  the 
same  as  the  obstructions  presented  against  every 
expedition  to  the  Pole  to-day,  or  for  that  matter,  to 
any  other  realm  of  the  Unknown.  It  was  like  asking 
the  inventor  to  show  his  invention  in  full  work  before 
he  has  made  it,  or  the  bank  to  pay  its  dividends 
before  you  contribute  to  its  capital.  What  reason 
could  Hudson  give  to  justify  his  faith?  Standing  on 
the  quarter  deck  with  clenched  fists  and  troubled 
face,  he  might  as  well  have  argued  with  stones,  or 
pleaded  for  a  chance  with  modem  money  bags  as 
talked  down  the  expostulations  of  the  mutineers." 
They  were  men  of  the  kidney  who  will  always  be  on 
the  safe  side.  As  the  world  knows — there  was  no 
passage  across  the  Pole  suitable  for  commerce.  There 
was  no  justification  for  Hudson's  faith.  Yet  it  was 
the  goal  of  that  faith,  which  led  him  on  the  road  to 

14 


Henry  Hudson's  First  Voyage 

greater  discoveries  than  a  dozen  passages  across  the 
Pole. 

Faith  has  always  been  represented  as  one  of  three 
sister  graces;  cringing,  meek-spirited,  downtrodden 
damsels  at  their  best.  In  view  of  all  she  has  accom- 
plished for  the  world  in  religion,  in  art,  in  science,  in 
discovery,  in  commerce.  Faith  should  be  represented 
as  a  fiery-eyed  goddess  with  the  forked  lightnings  for 
her  torch,  treading  the  mountain  peaks  of  the  uni- 
verse. From  her  high  place,  she  alone  can  see 
whence  comes  the  light  and  which  way  runs  the 
Trail.  Step  by  step,  the  battle  has  been  against  dark- 
ness, every  step  a  blow,  every  blow  a  bruise  driving 
back  to  the  right  Trail;  every  blood  mark  a  mile- 
stone in  human  progress  from  lowland  to  upland. 

But  Hudson's  men  were  obdurate  to  arguments 
all  up  in  air.  They  will  not  seek  the  passage  by 
Greenland.  Hudson  must  turn  back.  To  a  great 
spirit,  obstructions  are  never  a  stop.  They  are  only 
a  delay.  Hudson  sets  his  teeth.  You  will  see  him 
go  by  Greenland  one  day  yet — mark  his  word! 
Meantime,  home  he  sails  through  what  he  calls 
"slabbie"  weather,  putting  into  Tilbury  Docks  on 
the  15th  of  September.  If  money  bags  counted  up 
the  profits  of  that  year's  trip,  they  would  write  against 
Hudson's  name  in  the  Book  of  Judgment — Failure! 

IS 


CHAPTER  II 

1608 
Hudson's  second  voyage 

HENCEFORTH  Hudson  was  an  obsessed 
man.  First,  he  possessed  the  Idea.  Now 
the  Idea  possessed  him.  It  was  to  lead 
him  on  a  course  no  man  would  willingly  have  fol- 
lowed. Yet  he  followed  it.  Everything,  life  or 
death,  love  or  hate,  gain  or  loss,  was  to  be  subservient 
to  that  Idea. 

That  current  drifting  across  the  Pole  haunted  him 
as  it  was  to  haunt  Nansen  at  a  later  date.  By  at- 
tempting too  much,  had  he  missed  all?  He  had  gone 
to  Spitzbergen  in  the  Eighties.  If  he  had  kept  down 
to  Nova  Zembla  Islands  in  the  Seventies,  would  he 
have  found  less  ice?  The  man  possessed  by  a  single 
idea  may  be  a  trial  to  his  associates.  To  himself, 
he  is  a  torment.  Once  he  becomes  baffled,  he  is 
beset  by  doubts,  by  questions,  by  fears.  If  his  faith 
leaves  him,  his  life  goes  to  pieces  like  a  rope  of  sand. 
Hudson  must  have  been  beset  by  such  doubts  now. 
It  is  the  place  where  the  adventurer  leaves  the  mile- 

16 


Hudson  s  Second  Voyage 


stones  of  all  known  paths  and  has  not  yet  found  firm 
footing  for  his  own  feet.  Hundreds,  thousands,  have 
struck  out  from  the  beaten  Trail.  Few,  indeed, 
have  blazed  a  new  path.  The  bones  of  the  dead 
bleach  on  the  shores  of  the  realm  ruled  by  the  God- 
dess of  the  Unknown.  It  is  the  place  where  the  be- 
ginner sets  out  to  be  a  great  artist,  or  a  great  scien- 
tist, or  a  great  discoverer.  Thousands  have  set  out 
on  the  same  quest  who  should  have  rested  content 
at  their  own  ingle-nook,  happy  at  the  plow;  not 
good  plowmen  spoiled.  The  beginner  balances  the 
chances — a  thousand  to  one  against  him!  Is  his 
vision  a  fool's  quest,  a  will-o'-the-wisp?  Is  the  call 
the  tickling  of  his  own  restless  vanity;  or  the  voice 
of  a  great  truth?  He  can  learn  only  by  going  for- 
ward, and  the  going  forward  may  take  him  over  a 
precipice — may  prove  him  a  fool.  This  was  the  place 
Hudson  was  at  now.  It  is  a  place  that  has  been 
passed  by  all  the  world's  great. 

Nine  Dutch  boats  had  at  different  times  passed 
between  Nova  Zembla  and  the  main  coast  of  Russia. 
To  be  sure,  they  had  been  blocked  by  the  ice  beyond, 
but  might  not  Hudson  by  some  lucky  chance  follow 
that  Polar  Current  through  open  water?  The 
chances  were  a  thousand  to  one  against  him.  Who 
but  a  fool  would  take  the  chance?  Nansen's  daring 
plan  to  utilize  the  ice-drift  to  Ujt  his  ship  above  the 

17 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ice-crush — did  not  occur  to  Hudson.  Except  for 
that  difference,  the  two  explorers — the  greatest  of 
the  early  Arctic  navigators  and  the  greatest  of  the 
modern — planned  very  much  the  same  course. 

This  time,  the  Muscovy  Company  commissioned 
Hudson  to  look  out  for  ivory  hunting  as  well  as  the 
short  passage  to  Asia.  Three  men  only  of  the  old 
crew  enlisted.  Hudson  might  enjoy  risking  his  life 
for  glory.  Most  mortals  prefer  safety.  Of  the 
three  who  re-enlisted  one  was  his  son. 

Keeping  close  to  the  cloud-capped,  mountainous 
shores  of  Norway,  the  boat  sighted  Cape  North  on 
June  3,  1608.  Clouds  wreathed  the  mountains  in 
belts  and  plumes  of  mist.  Snow-fields  of  far  sum- 
mits shone  gold  in  sudden  bursts  of  sunshine  through 
the  cloud-wrack.  Fjords  like  holes  in  the  wall 
nestled  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  the  hamlets  of 
the  fisher  folk  like  tiny  match  boxes  against  the 
mighty  hills.  To  the  restless  tide  rocked  and  heaved 
the  fishing  smacks — emblems  of  man's  spirit  at  end- 
less wrestle  with  the  elements.  As  Hudson's  ship 
climbed  the  waves,  the  fishermen  stood  up  in  their 
little  boats  to  wave  a  God-speed  to  these  adven- 
turers bound  for  earth's  ends.  Sails  swelling  to  the 
wind,  Hudson's  vessel  rode  the  roll  of  green  waters, 
then  dipped  behind  a  cataract  of  waves,  and  dropped 
over  the  edge  of  the  known  world. 

18 


Hudson's  Second  Voyage 


Driftwood  again  on  that  Polar  Current  up  at 
Seventy -five,  driftwood  and  the  endless  sweep  of 
moving  ice,  which  compelled  Hudson  "/<?  loose  jrom 
one  floe^'  and  "bear  room  jrom  another^'  and  anchor 
on  the  lee  of  one  berg  to  prevent  ramming  by  an- 
other; '^divers  pieces  driving  past  the  ship,"  says 
Hudson — just  as  it  drove  past  Nansen's  Fram  on  the 
same  course. 

To  men  satiated  of  modem  life,  the  North  is  still 
a  wonder- world.  There  are  the  white  silences  pri- 
meval as  the  mom  when  God  first  created  Time. 
There  is  "the  sun  sailing  round  in  a  fiery  ring" — ^as 
one  old  Viking  described  it — instead  of  sinking  below 
the  horizon;  nightless  days  in  summer  and  dayless 
nights  in  winter.  There  is  the  desolation  of  earth's 
places  where  man  may  never  have  dominion  and 
Death  must  always  veil  herself  unseen.  Polar  bears 
floundered  over  the  ice  hunting  seals.  Walms 
roared  from  the  rocks  in  herds  till  the  surf  shook — 
ivory  for  the  Muscovy  Company ;  and  whales  floated 
about  the  ship  in  schools  that  threatened  to  keel  the 
craft  over — more  profit  for  the  Muscovy  traders. 

What  wonder  that  Hudson's  ignorant  sailors  began 
to  feel  the  marvel  of  the  strange  ice-world,  and  to  see 
fabulous  things  in  the  light  of  the  midnight  sun? 
One  morning  a  face  was  seen  following  the  ship, 
staring  up  from  the  sea.    There  was  no  doubt  of  it. 

19 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Two  sailors  saw  it.  Was  it  one  of  the  monsters  of 
Saga  myth,  that  haunted  this  region?  The  watch 
called  a  comrade.  Both  witnessed  the  hideous  ap- 
parition of  a  human  face  with  black  hair  streaming 
behind  on  the  waves.  The  body  was  like  a  woman's 
and  the  seamen's  terror  had  conjured  up  the  ill  omen 
of  a  mermaid  when  wave-wash  overturned  its  body, 
exhibiting  the  fins  and  tail  of  a  porpoise — "skin  very 
white" — mermaid  without  a  doubt,  portent  of  evil, 
though  the  hair  may  have  been  floating  seaweed. 
'  Sure  enough,  within  a  week,  ice  locked  round  the 
ship  in  a  vise.  The  floes  were  no  brashy  ice-cakes 
that  could  be  plowed  through  by  a  ship's  prow  with 
a  strong,  stem  wind.  They  were  huge  fields  of  ice, 
five,  ten,  twenty  and  thirty  feet  deep  interspread 
with  hummocks  and  hillocks  that  were  miniature 
bergs  in  themselves.  Across  these  rolling  meadows 
of  crystal,  the  wind  blew  with  the  nip  of  midwinter; 
but  when  the  sun  became  partly  hidden  in  fiery  cloud- 
banks,  the  scene  was  a  fairy  land,  sea  and  sky  shad- 
ing off  in  deepest  tinges  to  all  the  tints  of  the  rain- 
bow. Where  the  ocean  showed  through  ice  depths^ 
there  was  a  blue  reflection  deep  as  indigo.  Where 
the  clear  water  was  only  a  surface  pool  on  top  of 
submerged  ice,  the  sky  shone  above  with  a  light 
green  delicate  as  apple  bloom.  W^here  the  ice  was 
a  broken  mass  of  an  adjacent  glacier  sliding  down 

20 


Hudson's  Second  Voyage 


to  the  sea  through  the  eternal  snows  of  some 
mountain  gorge,  a  curious  phenomenon  could  some- 
times be  observed.  The  edge  of  the  ice  was  in  layers 
— each  layer  representing  one  ^year's  snowfall  corx- 
gealed  by  the  summer  thaw,  so  that  the  observer 
could  count  back  perhaps  a  century  from  the  ice 
layers.  Other  men  tread  on  snow  that  fell  but  yes- 
terday. Hudson's  crew  were  treading  on  the  snow- 
fall of  a  hundred  years  as  though  this  were  God's 
workshop  in  the  making  and  a  hundred  years  were 
but  as  a  day. 

Beyond  the  floating  ice  fields,  the  heights  of  Nova 
Zembla  were  sighted,  awesome  and  lonely  in  the 
white  night,  gruesome  to  these  men  from  memory 
of  the  fate  that  befell  the  Dutch  crews  here  fifteen 
years  previously.  Rowing  and  punting  through  the 
ice-brash,  two  men  went  ashore  to  explore.  They 
saw  abundance  of  game  for  the  Muscovy  gentlemen ; 
and  at  one  place  among  driftwood  came  on  the  cold 
ashes  of  an  old  fire.  It  was  like  the  first  print  of 
man's  footstep  found  by  Robinson  Crusoe.  Startled 
by  signs  of  human  presence,  they  scanned  the  sur- 
rounding landscape.  On  the  shore,  a  solitary  cross 
had  been  erected  of  driftwood.  Then  the  men  re- 
called the  fate  of  the  Dutch  crew,  that  had  perished 
wandering  over  these  islands  in  1597.  What  fearful 
battles   had   the  white  silences  witnessed  between 

21 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

puny  men  explorers  and  the  stony  Goddess  of  Death? 
What  had  become  of  the  last  man,  of  the  man  who 
had  erected  the  cross?  Did  his  body  lie  somewhere 
along  the  shores  of  Nova  Zembla,  or  had  he  manned 
his  little  craft  like  the  Vikings  of  old  and  sailed  out 
lashed  to  the  spars  to  meet  death  in  tempest?  The 
horror  of  the  North  seemed  to  touch  the  men  as  with 
the  hands  of  the  dead  whom  she  had  slain. 

The  report  that  the  two  men  carried  back  to  Hud- 
son's boat  did- not  raise  the  spirits  of  the  crew.  One 
night  the  entire  ship's  company  but  Hudson  and 
his  son  had  gone  ashore  to  hunt  walrus.  Such 
illimitable  fields  of  ice  lay  north  that  Hudson  knew 
his  only  chance  must  be  between  the  south  end  of 
Nova  Zembla  (he  did  not  know  there  were  several 
islands  in  the  group)  and  the  main  coast  of  Asia.  It 
was  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  ice  began  to 
drive  landward  with  the  fury  of  a  whirlpool.  Two 
anchors  were  thrown  out  against  the  tide.  Fenders 
were  lowered  to  protect  the  ship's  sides.  Captain 
and  boy  stood  with  iron-shod  poles  in  hand  to  push 
the  ice  from  the  ship,  or  the  ship  from  the  ice.  The 
men  from  the  hunt  saw  the  coming  danger  and 
rushed  over  the  churning  icepans  to  the  rescue. 
Some  on  the  ice,  some  on  the  ship,  with  poles  and 
oars  and  crowbars,  they  pushed  and  heaved  away 
the  icepans,  and    ramming    their    crowbars  down 

22 


■  tlT  vov^ct 


Hudson's  Second  Voyage 


crevices  wrenched  the  ice  to  splinters  or  swerved  it 
off  the  sides  of  the  ship.  Sometimes  an  icepan 
would  tilt,  teeter,  rise  on  end  and  turn  a  somerset, 
plunging  the  sailors  in  ice  water  to  their  arm  pits. 
The  jam  seemed  to  be  coming  on  the  ship  from  both 
directions  at  once,  for  the  simple  reason  the  ship 
offered  the  line  of  least  resistance.  Twelve  hours 
the  battle  lasted,  the  heaving  ice-crush  threatening 
to  crush  the  ship's  ribs  like  slats  till  at  last  a  channel 
of  open  water  appeared  just  outside  the  ship's  prison. 
But  the  air  was  a  dead  calm.  Springing  from  ice- 
pan  to  icepan,  the  men  towed  their  ship  out  of  danger. 
Rain  began  to  drizzle.  The  next  day  a  cold  wind 
came  whistling  through  the  rigging.  The  ship  lay 
in  a  land-locked  cove  of  Nova  Zembla.  Hudson 
again  sent  his  men  ashore  to  hunt,  probably  also  to 
pluck  up  courage.  Then  he  climbed  the  lookout 
to  scan  the  sea.  It  was  really  to  scan  his- own  fate. 
It  was  the  old  story  of  the  glory-seeker's  quest — a 
harder  battle  than  human  power  could  wage;  a 
struggle  that  at  the  last  only  led  to  a  hopeless  impasse. 
The  scent  on  the  Trail  and  the  eagerness  in  the 
hound  leading  only  to  a  blind  alley  of  baffled  effort 
and  ruin!  Every  great  benefactor  of  humanity  has 
come  to  this  cid  de  sac  of  hope.  It  is  as  if-  a  man's 
highest  aim  were  only  in  the  end  a  sort  of  trap 
whither  some  impish  will-o'-the-wisp  has  impelled 

23 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

him.  The  thing  itself— a  passage  across  the  Pole— 
didn't  exist  any  more  than  the  elixir  of  life  which  laid 
the  foundations  of  chemistry.  The  question  is  how, 
when  the  great  men  of  humanity  come  to  this  blind 
wall,  did  they  ever  have  courage  to  go  on?  For  the 
thing  they  pursued  was  a  phantom  never  to  be  real- 
ized; but  strangely  enough,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  the  phantom  pursuit  led  to  greater  benefits  for 
the  race  than  their  highest  hopes  dared  to  dream. 

No  elixir  of  life,  you  dreamer;  but  your  mad- 
brained  search  for  the  elixir  gave  us  the  secrets  of 
chemistry  by  which  man  prolongs  life  if  he  doesn't 
preserve  eternal  youth !  No  fate  written  on  the  scroll 
of  the  heavens,  you  star-gazer;  but  your  fool-astrol- 
ogy has  given  us  astronomy,  by  which  man  may  pre- 
dict the  movements  of  the  stars  for  a  thousand  years 
though  he  cannot  forsee  his  own  fate  for  a  day!  No 
North- West  Passage  to  Asia,  you  fevered  adven- 
turers of  the  trackless  sea;  but  your  search  for  a 
short  way  to  China  has  given  us  a  New  World  worth 
a  thousand  Chinas!  Go  on  with  your  dreams,  you 
mad-souled  visionaries!  If  it  is  a  will-o'-the  wisp 
you  chase,  your  will-o'-the-wisp  is  a  lantern  to  the 
rest  of  humanity! 

Climbing  the  rigging  to  the  topmast  yardarm, 
Hudson   scanned   the   sea.     His   heart   sank.     His 

24 


Hudson's  Second  Voyage 


hopes  seemed  to  congeal  like  the  eternal  ice  of  this 
ice-world.  The  springs  of  life  seemed  to  grow  both 
heavy  and  cold.  Far  as  eye  could  reach  was  ice — 
only  ice,  while  outside  the  cove  there  raged  a  tempest 
as  if  all  the  demons  of  the  North  were  blowing  their 
trumpets. 

"There  is  no  passage  this  way,"  said  Hudson  to  his 
son.  Then  as  if  hope  only  dies  that  it  may  send 
forth  fresh  growth  like  the  seed,  he  added,  "But  we 
must  try  Greenland  again,  on  the  west  side  this 
time."  It  was  ten  o'clock  at  night  when  the  men  re- 
turned laden  with  game;  but  they,  too,  had  taken 
counsel  among  themselves  whether  to  go  forward; 
and  the  memory  of  that  dead  crew's  cross  turned  the 
scales  against  Hudson.  It  was  only  the  5th  of  July, 
but  they  would  not  hear  of  attempting  Greenland 
this  season.  From  midnight  of  the  5th  to  nine  o'clock 
of  the  6th,  Hudson  pondered.  No  gap  opened  through 
the  white  wall  ahead.  The  Frost  Giants,  whose 
gamlx)ls  may  be  heard  on  the  long  winter  nights  when 
the  icecracks  whoop  and  romp,  had  won  against 
Man.  '^ Being  void  oj  hope,^^  Hudson  records,  ^^the 
wind  stormy  and  against  us,  much  ice  driving,  we 
weighed  and  set  sail  westward ^  Home-bound,  the 
ship  anchored  on  the  Thames,  August  26. 


25 


CHAPTER  III 

1609 

Hudson's  third  voyage 

"W  ^  THILE  Hudson  was  pursuing  his  phantom 
^y^  across  Polar  seas,  Europe  had  at  last 
awakened  to  the  secret  of  Spain's  great- 
ness— colonial  wealth  that  poured  the  gold  of  Peru 
into  her  treasury.  To  counteract  Spain,  colonizing 
became  the  master  policy  of  Europe.  France  was  at 
work  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  England  was  settling 
Virginia,  and  Smith,  the  pioneer  of  Virginia,  who 
was  Hudson's  personal  friend,  had  explored  the 
Chesapeake. 

I  But  the  Netherlands  went  a  step  farther.  To 
throw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain,  they  maintained  a  fleet 
of  seventy  merchantmen  furnished  as  ships  of  war 
to  wage  battle  on  the  high  seas.  Spanish  colonies 
were  to  be  attacked  wherever  found.  Spanish  cities 
were  to  be  sacked  as  the  buccaneers  sacked  them  on 
the  South  Sea.  Spanish  caravels  with  cargoes  of 
gold  were  to  be  scuttled  and  sunk  wherever  met.  It 
was  to  be  brigandage — brigandage  pure  and  simple 

26 


Hudson^s  Third  Voyage 


— from  the  Zuider  Zee  to  Panama,  from  the  North 
Pole  to  the  South. 

Hudson's  voyages  for  the  Muscovy  merchants  of 
London  to  find  a  short  way  to  Asia  at  once  arrested 
the  attention  of  the  Dutch.  Dutch  and  English 
vied  with  each  other  for  the  discovery  of  that  short 
road  to  the  Orient.  For  a  century  the  chance  en- 
counter of  Dutch  and  English  sailors  on  Arctic  seas 
had  been  the  signal  for  the  instant  breaking  of  heads. 
Not  whales  but  men  were  harpooned  when  Dutch 
and  English  fishermen  met  oflf  Nova  Zembla,  or 
Spi^zbergen,  or  the  North  Cape. 

Hudson  was  no  sooner  home  from  his  second 
voyage  for  the  English  than  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  invited  him  to  Holland  to  seek  passage 
across  the  Pole  for  them.  This — it  should  be  ex- 
plained— is  the  only  justification  that  exists  for  writ- 
ing the  English  pilot's  name  as  Hendrick  instead  of 
Henry,  as  though  employment  by  the  Dutch  changed 
the  Englishman's  nationality. 

The  invitation  was  Hudson's  salvation.  Just  at 
the  moment  when  all  doors  were  shut  against  him  in 
England  and  when  his  hopes  were  utterly  baffled  by 
two  failures — another  door  opened.  Just  at  the  mo- 
ment when  his  own  thoughts  were  turning  toward 
America  as  the  solution  of  the  North-Wcst  Passage, 
the  chance  came  to  seek  the  passage  in  America. 

27 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Just  when  Hudson  was  at  the  point  where  he  might 
have  abandoned  his  will-o'-the-wisp,  it  lighted  him 
to  a  fresh  pursuit  on  a  new  Trail.  It  is  such  coin- 
cidences as  these  in  human  life  that  cause  the  poet 
to  sing  of  Destiny. 

But  the  chanciness  of  human  fortune  did  not  cease 
because  of  this  stroke  of  good  luck.  The  great  mer- 
chants of  the  Netherlands  heard  his  plans.  His 
former  failures  were  against  him.  Money  bags  do 
not  care  to  back  an  uncertainty.  Having  paid  his 
expenses  to  come  to  Holland,  the  merchant  princes 
-were  disposed  to  let  him  cool  his  heels  in  the  outer 
halls  waiting  their  pleasure.  The  chances  are  they 
would  have  rejected  his  overtures  altogether  if  France 
and  Belgium  had  not  at  that  time  begun  to  consider 
the  employment  of  Hudson  on  voyages  of  discovery. 
The  Amsterdam  merchants  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  suddenly  awakened  to  the  fact  that  they 
wanted  Hudson,  and  wanted  him  at  once.  Again 
Destiny,  or  a  will-o'-the-wisp  as  impish  as  Puck^ 
had  befriended  him. 

At  Amsterdam,  he  was  furnished  with  two  vessels, 
the  Good  Hope  as  an  escort  part  way;  the  Half  Moon 
for  the  voyage  itself — a  flat-bottomed,  tub-like  yacht 
such  as  plied  the  shallows  of  Holland.  In  his  crew, 
he  was  unfortunate.  The  East  India  Company,  of 
course,  supplied  him  with  the  sailors  of  their  own 

28 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


boats — lawless  lascars;  turbaned  Asiatics  with 
stealthy  tread  and  velvet  voices  and  a  dirk  hidden  in 
their  girdles ;  gypsy  nondescripts  with  the  hot  blood 
of  the  hot  tropics  and  the  lawless  instincts  of  birds 
of  plunder.  Your  crew  trained  to  cut  the  Spaniard's 
throat  may  acquire  the  habit  and  cut  the  master's 
throat,  too.  Along  with  these  sailors,  Hudson  in- 
sisted on  having  a  few  Englishmen  from  his  former 
crews,  among  whom  were  Colman  and  Juet  and  his 
own  son.  Juet  acted  as  astronomer  and  keeper  of 
the  ship's  log.  From  Juet  and  Van  Meteren,  the 
Dutch  consul  in  England  in  whose  hands  Hudson's 
manuscripts  finally  fell — are  drawn  all  the  facts  of 
the  voyage. 

On  March  25  (April  6,  new  style),  1609,  the  cum- 
bersome crafts  swung  out  on  the  hazy  yellow  of  the 
Zuider  Zee.  Mother  ships  were  about  Hudson,  here, 
than  on  the  Thames,  for  the  Dutch  had  an  enormous 
conimerce  with  the  East  and  the  West  Indies.  Fe- 
luccas with  lateen  sails  and  galleys  for  oarsmen  had 
come  up  from  the  Mediterranean.  Dutch  pirates 
of  the  Barbary  Coast — narrow  in  the  prow,  narrow 
in  the  keel,  built  for  swift  sailing  and  light  cargoes — 
had  forgathered,  sporting  sails  of  a  different  design 
for  every  harbor.  Then,  there  were  the  East  India- 
men,  ponderous,  slow-moving,  deep  and  broad,  with 
cannon  bristling  through  the  ports  like  men-of-war, 

29 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  tawny  Asiatic  faces  leering  over  the  taflrail. 
Yawls  from  the  low-lying  coast,  three-masted  lug- 
gers from  Denmark,  Norwegian  ships  with  hideous 
scaled  griffins  carved  on  the  sharp-curved  prows, 
brigs  and  brigantines  and  caravels  and  tall  galleons 
from  Spain — all  crowded  the  ports  of  the  Nether- 
lands, whose  commerce  was  at  its  zenith.  Thread- 
ing his  way  through  the  motley  craft,  Hudson  slowly 
worked  out  to  sea. 

All  went  well  till  the  consort.  Good  Hope,  turned 
back  north  of  Norway  and  the  Half  Momi  ploughed 
on  alone  into  the  ice  fields  of  Nova  Zembla  with  her 
lawless  lascar  crew.  This  was  the  region  where 
other  Dutch  crews  had  perished  miserably.  Here, 
too,  Hudson's  English  sailors  had  lost  courage  the 
year  before.  And  here  Dutch  and  English  always 
fought  for  fishing  rights.  The  cold  north  wind 
roared  down  in  gusts  and  flaws  and  sudden  bursts  of 
fury.  Against  such  freezing  cold,  the  flimsy  finery 
of  damasks  and  calico  worn  by  the  East  Indians  was 
no  protection.  The  lascars  were  chilled  to  the  bone. 
They  lay  huddled  in  their  berths  bound  up  in 
blankets  and  refused  to  stir  above  decks  in  such  cold. 
Promptly,  the  English  sailors  rebelled  against  double 
work.  The  old  feud  between  English  and  Dutch 
flamed  up.  Knives  were  out,  and  before  Hudson 
realized,  a  mutiny  was  raging  about  his  ears. 

30 


HudsorCs  Third  Voyage 


If  he  turned  back,  he  was  ruined.  The  door  of 
opportunity  to  new  success  is  a  door  that  shuts 
against  retreat.  His  friend,  Smith  of  Virginia,  had 
written  to  him  of  the  great  inlet  of  the  Chesapeake' 
in  America.  South  of  the  Chesapeake  was  no  pas- 
sage  to  the  South  Sea.  Smith  knew  that ;  but  north 
of  the  Chesapeake  old  charts  marked  an  unexplored 
arm  of  the  sea.  When  Verrazano,  the  Italian, 
coasted  America  for  France  in  1524,  he  had  been 
driven  by  a  squall  from  the  entrance  to  a  vast  river 
between  Thirty-nine  and  Forty-one  (the  Hudson 
River);  and  the  Spanish  charts  of  Estevan  Gomez, 
in  1525,  marked  an  unknown  Rio  de  Gamos  on  the 
same  coast.  Hudson  now  recalled  Smith's  advice 
— to  seek  passage  between  the  James  River  and  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

To  clinch  matters  came  a  gust  driving  westward 
over  open  sea.  Robert  Juet,  seeking  guidance  from 
the  heavenly  bodies,  notices  for  the  first  time  in 
history,  on  May  19,  that  there  is  a  spot  on  the  sun. 
If  Hudson  had  accomplished  nothing  more,  he  had 
made  two  important  discoveries  for  science — the 
Polar  Current  and  the  spot  on  the  sun.  Geog- 
raphers and  astronomers  have  been  knighted  and 
pensioned  for  less  important  discoveries. 

West,  southwest,  drove  the  storm  flaw,  the  Halj 
Moon  scudding  bare  of  sails  for  three  hundred  miles, 

31 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Was  it  destiny  again,  or  his  daemon,  or  his  Puck,  or 
his  will-o'-the-wisp,  or  the  Providence  of  God — that 
drove  Hudson  contrary  to  his  plans  straight  for  the 
scene  of  his  immortal  discoveries?  Pause  was  made 
at  the  Faroes  for  wood  and  water.  There,  too,  Hud- 
son consulted  with  his  ofl&cers  and  decided  to  steer 
for  America. 

Once  more  afloat,  June  saw  the  Half  Moon  with 
its  lazy  lascars  lounging  over  rails  down  among  the 
brown  fogs  of  Newfoundland.  Here -a  roaring  nor'- 
easter  came  with  the  suddenness  of  a  thunderclap. 
The  scream  of  wind  through  the  rigging,  the  growlers 
swishing  against  the  keel,  then  the  thunder  of  the 
great  billows  banging  broadsides — were  like  the 
burst  of  cannon  fire  over  a  battlefield.  The  fore- 
mast snapped  and  swept  into  the  seas  as  the  little 
Half  Moon  careened  over  on  one  side,  and  the  next 
gust  that  caught  her  tore  the  other  sails  to  tatters, 
but  she  still  kept  her  prow  headed  southwest. 

Fogs  lay  as  they  nearly  always  lie  on  the  Grand 
Banks,  but  a  sudden  lift  of  the  mist  on  June  25  re- 
vealed a  sail  standing  east.  To  the  pirate  East 
Indian  sailors,  the  sight  of  the  strange  ship  was  like 
the  smell  of  powder  to  a  battle  horse.  Loot !  Spanish 
loot!  With  a  whoop,  they  headed  the  Half  Moon 
about  in  utter  disregard  of  Hudson,  and  gave  chase. 
From  midday  to  dark  the  Half  Moon  played  pirate, 

32 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


cutting  the  waves  in  pursuit,  careening  to  the  wind 
in  a  way  that  threatened  to  capsize  boat  and  crew, 
the  fugitive  bearing  away  like  a  bird  on  wing.  This 
little  by-play  lasted  till  darkness  hid  the  strange  ship, 
but  the  madcap  prank  seemed  to  rouse  the  lazy 
lascars  from  their  torpor.  Henceforth,  they  were 
alert  for  any  lawless  raid  that  promised  plunder. 

Back  about  the  Half  Moon  through  the  warm  June 
night.  Dutch  and  English  forgathered  in  the  moon- 
light squatting  about  on  the  ship's  kegs  spinning 
yarns  of  bloody  pirate  venture,  when  Spanish  car- 
goes were  scuttled  and  Spanish  dons  tossed  off  bayo- 
net point  into  the  sea,  and  Spanish  ladies  compelled 
to  walk  the  plank  blindfolded  into  watery  graves. 
What  kind  of  venture  did  they  expect  in  America — 
this  rascal  crew? 

Then  the  fogs  of  the  Banks  settled  down  again  like 
wool.  Here  and  there,  like  phantom  ships  were  the 
sails  of  the  French  fishing  fleet,  or  the  black-hulled 
bateaux,  or  the  rocking  Newfoundland  dories. 

A  long  white  curl  of  combing  waves,  and  they  have 
sheered  off  from  the  Wreckers'  Reef  at  Sable  Island. 

Slower  now,  and  steady,  the  small  boats  sounding 
ahead,  for  the  water  is  shallow  and  the  wind  shifty. 
In  the  calm  that  falls,  the  crew  fishes  lazily  over 
decks  for  cod.  Through  the  fog  and  dark  of  July 
i6,^  something  ahead  looks  like  islands.    The  boat 

33 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest  ' 

anchors  for  the  night,  and  when  gray  morning  breaks, 
the  Half  Moon  lies  off  what  is  now  known  as  Penob- 
scot Bay,  Maine. 

Two  dugouts  paddled  by  Indians  come  climbing 
the  waves.  Dressed  in  breechcloths  of  fur  and 
feathers,  the  savages  mount  the  decks  without  fear. 
The  lascars  gather  round — not  much  promise  of 
plunder  from  such  scant  attire!  By  signs  and  a  few 
French  words,  the  Indians  explain  that  St.  Lawrence 
traders  frequent  this  coast.  The  East  India  cut-' 
throats  prick  up  their  ears.  Trade — what  had  these 
defenceless  savages  to  trade? 

That  week  Hudson  sailed  up  the  river  and  sent 
his  carpenters  ashore  to  make  fresh  masts,  but  the 
East  India  men  rummaged  the  redskins'  camp. 
Great  store  of  furs,  they  saw.  It  was  not  the  kind  of 
loot  they  wanted.  Gold  was  more  to  their  choice, 
but  it  was  better  than  no  loot  at  all. 

The  Half  Moon  was  ready  to  sail  on  the  25th  of 
July.  In  spite  of  Hudson's  commands,  six  sailors 
went  ashore  with  heavy  old-fashioned  musketoons 
known  as  "murderers."  Seizing  the  Indian  canoes, 
they  opened  fire  on  the  camp.  The  amazed  Indians 
dashed  for  hiding  in  the  woods.  The  sailors  then 
plundered  the  wigwams  of  everything  that  could  be 
carried  away.  This  has  always  been  considered 
a  terrible  blot  against  Hudson's  fame.    The  only 

34 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


explanation  given  by  Juet  in  the  ship's  log  is,  "we 
drave  the  savages  jrotn  the  houses  afid  took  the  spoyle 
as  they  would  have  done  of  us."  Van  Meteren,  the 
Dutch  consul  in  London,  who  had  Hudson's  account, 
gives  another  explanation.  He  declares  the  Dutch 
sailors  conducted  the  raid  in  spite  of  all  the  force 
with  which  Hudson  could  oppose  them.  The  Eng- 
lish sailors  refused  to  enforce  his  commands  by 
fighting,  for  they  were  outnumbered  by  the  muti- 
neers. No  sooner  were  the  mutineers  back  on  deck 
than  they  fell  to  pummeling  one  another  over  a  divi- 
sion of  the  plunder.  Any  one,  who  knows  how  news 
carries  among  the  Indians  by  what  fur  traders 
describe  as  "the  moccasin  telegram,"  could  predict 
results.  "The  moccasin  telegram"  bore  exagge- 
rated rumors  of  the  outrage  from  the  Penobscot  to 
the  Ohio.  The  white  man  was  a  man  to  be  fought, 
.for  he  had  proved  himself  a  treacherous  friend. 
^  Wind-bound  at  times,  keeping  close  to  land,' 
warned  off  the  reefs  through  fog  by  a  great  rutt  or 
rustling  oj  the  tide,  the  pirate  sailors  now  disregard- ' 
ing  all  commands,  the  Half  Moon  drifted  lazily 
southward  past  Cape  Cod.  Somewhere  near  Nan- 
tucket, a  lonely  cry  sounded  from  the  wooded  shore. 
It  was  a  human  voice.  Fearing  some  Christian  had 
been  marooned  by  mutineers  like  his  own  crew,  Hud- 
son sent  his  small  boat  ashore.    A  camp  of  Indians 

35 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  found  dancing  in  a  frenzy  of  joy  at  the  appari- 
tion of  the  great  "winged  wigwam"  ghding  over  the 
sea.  A  present  of  glass  buttons  filled  their  cup  of 
happiness  to  the  brim. 

Grapevines  festooned  the  dank  forests.  Flowers 
still  bloomed  in  shady  nooks — the  wild  sunflower 
and  the  white  daisy  and  the  nodding  goldenrod ;  and 
the  sailors  drank  clear  water  from  a  crystal  spring 
at  the  roots  of  a  great  oak,  Robert  Juet's  ship  log 
records  that  ^Hhe  Indian  country  oj  great  hills^^' — ■ 
Massachusetts — was  "a  very  sweet  land." 

On  August  7,  Hudson  was  abreast  New  York 
harbor;  but  a  mist  part  heat,  part  fog,  part  the 
gathering  purples  of  coming  autumn — hid  the  low- 
lying  hills.  Sliding  idly  along  the  summer  sea, 
mystic,  unreal,  lotus  dreams  in  the  very  August  air, 
the  world  a  world  of  gold  in  the  yellow  summer 
light — the  Half  Moon  came  to  James  River  by  Au- 
gust i8,  where  Smith  of  Virginia  lived;  but  the 
mutineers  had  no  mind  to  go  up  to  Jamestown  set- 
tlement. There,  the  English  would  outnumber 
them,  and  English  law  did  not  deal  gently  with 
mutineers.  A  heat  hurricane  sent  the-  green  waves 
smashing  over  decks  off  South  Carolina,  and  in  the 
frantic  fright  of  the  ship's  cat  dashing  from  side  to 
side,  the  turbaned  pirates  imagined  portent  of  evil. 
Perhaps,  too,  they  were  coming  too  near  the  Spanish 

36 


Hudson's   Third  Voyage 


settlements  of  Florida.  All  their  bravado  of  scuttled 
Spanish  ships  may  have  been  pot-valor.  Any  way, 
they  consented  to  head  the  boat  back  north  in  a 
search  for  the  passage  above  the  Chesapeake. 

Past  the  swampy  Chesapeake,  a  run  up  the  Dela- 
ware burnished  as  a  mirror  in  the  morning  light; 
through  the  heat  haze  over  a  glassy  sea  along  that 
New  Jersey  shore  where  the  world  of  pleasure  now 
passes  its  summers  from  Cape  May  and  Atlantic 
City  to  the  highlands  of  New  Jersey — slowly  glided 
the  Halj  Moon.  Sand  reefs  gritted  the  keel,  and  the 
boat  sheered  out  from  shore  where  a  line  of  white 
foam  forewarned  more  reefs.  Juet,  the  mate,  did 
duty  at  the  masthead,  scanning  the  long  coast  line 
for  that  inlet  of  the  old  charts.  The  East  India 
men  lay  sprawled  over  decks,  beards  unkempt,  long 
hair  tied  back  by  gypsy  handkerchiefs,  bizarre  jewels 
gleaming  from  huge  brass  earrings.  Some  were 
paying  out  the  sounding  line  from  the  curved  beak 
of  the  prow.  Others  fished  for  a  shark  at  the  stern, 
throwing  out  pork  bait  at  the  end  of  a  rope.  Many 
were  squatted  on  the  decks  unsheltered  from  the  sun, 
chattering  like  parrots  over  games  of  chance. 

A  sudden  shout  from  Juet  at  the  masthead — of 
shoals!  A  grit  of  the  keel  over  pebbly  bottom!  On 
the  far  inland  hills,  the  signal  fires  of  watching 
Indians!    Then    the   sea    breaking   from    between 

37 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

islands  turbid  and  muddy  as  if  it  came  from  some 
great  river — September  2,  they  have  found  the 
inlet  of  the  old  charts.  They  are  on  the  threshold 
of  New  York  harbor.  They  have  discovered  the 
great  river  novir  known  by  Hudson's  name.  Even 
the  mutineers  stop  gambling  to  observe  the  scene. 
The  ringleader  that  in  all  sea  stories  wears  a  hook 
on  one  arm  points  to  the  Atlantic  Highlands  smoky 
in  the  summer  heat.  On  their  left  to  the  south  is 
Sandy  Hook;  to  the  north,  Staten  Island.  To  the 
'right  with  a  lumpy  hill  line  like  green  waves  running 
into  one  another  lie  Coney  Island  and  Long  Island. 
^The  East  India  men  laugh  with  glee.  It's  a  fine 
land.  It's  a  big  land.  This  is  better  than  risking 
the  gallows  for  mutiny  down  in  Virginia,  or  taking 
chances  of  having  throats  cut  boarding  some  Spanish 
galleon  of  the  South  Seas.  The  ship's  log  does  not 
say  anything  about  it.  Neither  does  Van  Meteren's 
record,  but  I  don't  think  Hudson  would  have  been 
human  if  his  heart  did  not  give  a  leap.  At  five  in  the 
afternoon  of  September  2,  the  Halj  Moon  anchored  at 
the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor  not  far  from  where 
the  Goddess  of  Liberty  waves  her  great  arm  to-day. 
Silent  is  the  future,  silent  as  the  sphinx!  How 
could  those  Dutch  sailors  guess,  how  could  the  Dutch 
company  that  sent  them  to  the  Pole  know,  that  the 
commerce  of  the  world  for  which  they  fought  Spain 

38 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


— would  one  day  beat  up  and  down  these  harbor 
waters?  Dreamed  he  never  so  wildly,  Hudson's 
wildest  dream  could  not  have  forseen  that  the  river 
he  had  discovered  would  one  day  throb  to  the  multi- 
tudinous voices  of  a  world  traffic,  a  world  empire,  a 
world  wealth. 

In  Hudson's  day,  Spain  was  the  leader  of  the 
world's  commerce  against  whom  all  nations  vied. 
To-day  her  population  does  not  exceed  twenty 
million,  but  there  flows  through  the  harbor  gates, 
which  Hudson,  the  penniless  pilot  dreamer,  discov- 
ered, the  commerce  of  a  hundred  million  people. 
It  is  no  straining  to  say  that  individual  fortunes 
have  been  made  in  the  traffic  of  New  York  harbor 
which  exceed  the  national  incomes  of  Spain  and 
Holland  and  Belgium  combined.  But  if  a  city's 
greatness  consists  in  something  more  than  volume  of 
wealth  and  volume  of  traffic;  if  it  consists  in  high 
endeavor  and  self-sacrifice  and  the  pursuit  of  ideals 
to  the  death,  Hudson,  the  dreamer,  beset  by  rascal 
mutineers  and  pursuing  his  aim  in  spite  of  all  diffi- 
culties, embodied  in  himself  the  qualities  that  go  to 
make  true  greatness. 

Mist  and  heat  haze  hid  the  harbor  till  ten  next 
morning.  The  Halj  Moon  then  glided  a  pace  in- 
land.   Three  great  rivers  seemed  to  open  before  her 

39 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

— the  Hudson,  East  River  and  one  of  the  channels 
round  Staten  Island.  On  the  4th,  while  the  small 
boat  went  ahead  to  sound,  some  sailors  rowed  ashore 
to  fish.  Tradition  says  that  the  first  white  men  to 
set  foot  on  New  York  harbor  landed  on  Coney  Island, 
though  there  is  no  proof  it  was  not  Staten  Island, 
for  the  ship  lay  anchored  beside  both.  The  wind 
blew  so  hard  this  night  that  the  anchor  dragged  over 
bottom  and  the  Half  Moon  poked  her  prow  into 
the  sands  of  Staten  Island,  ^^hut  took  no  hurt,  thanks 
be  to  God,^^  adds  Juet. 

Signal  fires — burning  driftwood  and  flames  shot 
up  through  hollow  trees — had  rallied  the  Indian 
tribes  to  the  marvel  of  the  house  afloat  on  the  sea. 
Objects  like  beings  from  heaven  seemed  to  live  on 
the  house — so  the  poor  Indians  thought,  and  they 
began  burning  sacrificial  fires  and  sent  runners  beat- 
ing up  the  wise  men  of  all  the  tribes.  A  religious 
dance  was  begun  typifying  welcome.  Spies  watch- 
ing through  the  foliage  came  back  wnth  word  that 
one  of  the  Manitous  was  chief  of  all  the  rest,  for  he 
was  dressed  in  a  bright  scarlet  cloak  with  something 
on  it  bright  as  the  sun — they  did  not  know  a  name 
for  gold  lace  worn  by  Hudson  as  commander.  When 
the  Manitou  with  the  gold  lace  went  ashore  at  Rich- 
mond, Staten  Island,  Indian  legend  says  that  the 
chiefs  gathered  round  in  a  circle  under  the  oaks  and 

40 


Hudsoii's  Third  Voyage 


chanted  an  ode  of  welcome  to  the  rhythmic  measures 
of  a  dance.  The  natives  accompanied  Hudson  back  to 
the  Halj  Moon  with  gifts  of  maize  and  tobacco — "a 
jriendly  people,^^  Hudson's  manuscript  describes  them. 
Two  days  passed  in  the  Narrows  with  interchange 
of  gifts  between  whites  and  Indians.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  6th,  Hudson  sent  Colman  and  four  men  to 
sound  what  is  now  known  as  Hell  Gate.  The  sailors 
went  on  to  the  Battery — the  southernmost  point  of 
New  York  City  as  it  is  to-day — finding  lands  pleasant 
with  grass  and  flowers  and  goodly  oaks,  the  air  crisp 
with  the  odor  of  autumn  woods.  With  the  yellow 
sun  aslant  the  painted  autumn  forests,  it  was  easy 
to  forget  time.  The  day  passed  in  idle  wanderings. 
At  dusk  rain  began  to  fall.  This  extinguished  "the 
match-lighters"  of  the  men's  muskets.  Launching 
their  boat  again,  they  were  rowing  back  to  the  Halj 
Moon  through  a  rain  fine  as  mist  when  two  canoes 
with  a  score  of  warriors  suddenly  emerged  from  the 
dusk.  Both  parties  paused  in  mutual  amazement. 
Then  the  warriors  uttered  a  shout  and  had  dis- 
charged a  shower  of  arrows  before  the  astonished 
sailors  could  defend  themselves.  Was  the  attack  a 
chance  encounter  with  hostilcs,  or  had  "the  moccasin 
telegram"  brought  news  of  the  murderous  raid  on  the 
Penobscot?  One  sailor  fell  dead  shot  through  the 
throat.    Two  of  the  other  four  men  were  injured. 

41 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

The  dead  man  was  the  Englishman,  Colman.  This 
weakened  Hudson  against  the  Dutch  mutineers. 
Muskets  were  wet  and  useless.  In  the  dark,  the  men 
had  lost  the  ship.  The  tide  began  to  run  with  a 
high  wind.  They  threw  out  a  grapnel.  It  did  not 
hold.  All  night  in  the  rain  and  dark,  the  two  unin- 
jured men  toiled  at  the  oars  to  keep  from  drifting  out 
to  sea.  Daylight  brought  relief.  The  enemy  had 
retreated,  and  the  Half  Moon  lay  not  far  away.  By 
ten  of  the  morning,  they  reached  the  ship.  The  dead 
man  was  rowed  ashore  and  buried  at  a  place  named 
after  him — Colman's  Point.  As  the  old  Dutch  maps 
have  a  Colman's  Punt  marked  at  the  upper  end  of 
Sandy  Hook,  that  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  burial 
place.  A  wall  of  boards  was  now  erected  round  the 
decks  of  the  Half  Moon  and  men-at-arms  kept  posted. 
Indians,  who  came  to  trade  that  day,  affected  igno- 
rance of  the  attack  but  wanted  knives  for  their  furs. 
Hudson  was  not  to  be  tricked.  He  refused,  and  per- 
mitted only  two  savages  on  board  at  a  time.  Two 
he  clothed  in  scarlet  coats  like  his  own,  and  kept  on 
board  to  guide  him  up  the  channel  of  the  main  river. 
The  farther  he  advanced,  the  higher  grew  the 
shores.  First  were  the  ramparts,  walls  of  rock, 
topped  by  a  fringe  of  blasted  trees.  Then  the  coves 
where  cities  like  Tarrytown  nestle  to-day.  Then 
the  forested  peaks  of  the  Highlands  and  West  Point 

42 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


and  Poughkeepsie,  with  the  oaks  to  the  river's  edge. 
Mist  hung  in  wreaths  across  the  domed  green  of  the 
mountain  called  Old  Anthony's  Nose.  Mountain 
streams  tore  down  to  the  river  through  a  tangle  of 
evergreens,  and  in  the  crisp,  nutty  autumn  air  was 
the  all  pervasive  resinous  odor  of  the  pines.  Moun- 
tains along  the  Hudson,  which  to-day  scarcely  feel 
the  footfall  of  man  except  for  the  occasional  hunter, 
were  in  Hudson's  time  peopled  by  native  mountain- 
eers. From  their  eerie  nests  they  could  keep  eagle 
eye  on  all  the  surrounding  country  and  swoop  down 
like  birds  of  prey  on  all  intruders.  As  the  white  sails 
of  the  Half  Moan  rattled  and  shifted  and  flapped  to 
the  wind  tacking  up  the  river,  thin  columns  of  smoke 
rose  from  the  heights  around,  lights  flashed  from  peak 
to  peak  like  watch  fires — the  signals  of  the  moun- 
taineers. From  the  beginning  of  time  they  had  dwelt 
secure  on  these  airy  peaks.  What  invader  was  this, ' 
gliding  up  the  river-silences,  sails  spread  like  wings?  I 
By  the  13th  of  September,  the  Half  Moan  had 
passed  Yonkers.  On  the  morning  of  the  15th,  it 
anchored  within  the  shadow  of  the  Catskills.  On  the 
night  of  the  19th,  it  lay  at  poise  on  the  amber  swamps, 
where  the  river  widens  near  modem  Albany.  Either 
their  professions  of  friendship  had  been  a  farce 
from  the  first,  or  they  were  afraid  to  be  carried  into 
the  land  of  the  Mohawks,  but  the  two  savages, 

43 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

who  had  come  as  guides,  sprang  through  the  port- 
hole near  Catskill  and  swam  ashore,  running  along 
the  banks  shouting  defiance. 

Below  Albany,  Hudson  went  ashore  with  an  old 
chief  of  the  country.  "He  was  chief  of  forty  men," 
Hudson's  manuscript  records,  "whom  I  saw  in  a 
house  of  oak  bark,  circular  in  shape  with  arched  roof. 
It  contained  a  great  quantity  of  corn  and  beans,  enough 
to  load  three  ships,  besides  what  was  growing  in  the 
fields.  On  our  coming  into  the  house,  two  mats  were 
spread  to  sit  upon  and  food  was  served  in  red  wooden 
boids.  Two  men  were  dispatched  in  quest  of  game,  who 
brought  in  a  pair  of  pigeons.  They  likewise  killed  a  fat 
dog  and  skinned  it  with  great  haste  with  shells.  The 
land  is  the  finest  for  ctdtivation  that  ever  I  in  my  life 
set  foot  upon."  Hudson  had  not  found  a  passage  to 
China,  but  his  soul  was  satisfied  of  his  life  labor. 

Above  Albany,  the  river  became  shoaly.  Hudson 
sent  his  men  forward  twice  to  sound,  but  thirty  miles 
beyond  Albany  the  water  was  too  shallow  for  the 
Half  Momi. 

How  far  up  the  river  had  Hudson  sailed?  Juet's 
ship  log  does  not  give  the  latitude,  but  Van  Meteren's 
record  says  42°  40'.  Beyond  this,  on  September  22, 
the  small  boat  advanced  thirty  miles.  Tradition 
says  Hudson  ascended  as  far  as  Waterford. 

While  the  boats  were  sounding,  the  conspirators 

44 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


were  at  their  usual  mischief.  Indian  chiefs  had 
come  on  board.  They  were  taken  down  to  the  cabin 
and  made  gloriously  drunk.  All  went  merrily  till 
one  Indian  fell  insensible.  The  rest  scampered  in 
panic  and  came  back  with  offerings  of  wampum — 
their  most  precious  possession — for  the  chief's  ran- 
som. When  they  secured  him  alive,  they  brought 
more  presents — wampum  and  venison — in  gratitude. 
To  this  escapade  of  the  mischief -making  crew, 
moccasin  rumor  added  a  thousand  exaggerations 
which  came  down  in  Indian  tradition  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century.  After  the  drunken  frenzy 
— legend  says — the  white  men  made  a  great  oration 
promising  to  come  again.  When  they  returned  the 
next  year,  they  asked  for  as  much  land  as  the  hide  of 
a  bullock  would  cover.  The  Indians  granted  it, 
but  the  white  men  cut  the  buffalo  hide  to  strips  nar- 
row as  a  child's  finger  and  so  encompassed  all  the 
land  of  Manahat  (Manhattan).  The  whites  then 
built  a  fort  for  trade.  The  name  of  the  fort  was 
New  Amsterdam.  It  grew  to  be  a  mighty  city. 
Such  are  Indian  legends  of  New  York's  beginnings. 
They  probably  have  as  much  truth  as  the  story  of 
Rome  and  the  wolf. 

On  September  23,  the  Half  Moon  turned  her 
prow  south.  The  Hudson  lay  in  all  its  autumn 
glory — a  glassy  sheet  walled  by  the  painted  woods, 

45 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

now  gorgeous  with  the  frost  tints  of  gold  and  scarlet 
and  carmine.  The  ship  anchored  each  night  and 
the  crew  wandered  ashore  hatching  pirate  plots. 
Finally  they  presented  their  ultimatum  to  Hudson — 
they  would  slay  him  if  he  dared  to  steer  for  Holland. 
Weakened  by  the  death  of  Colman,  the  English  were 
helpless  against  the  Dutch  mutineers.  Perhaps 
they,  too,  were  not  averse  to  seizing  the  Company's 
ship  and  becoming  sea  rovers  along  the  shores  of 
such  a  land.  At  least  one  of  them  turned  pirate  the 
next  voyage.  Twice,  the  Halj  Moon  was  run 
aground  —  at  Catskill  and  at  Esopus  —  probably 
intentionally,  or  because  Hudson  dared  not  send 
his  faithful  Englishmen  ahead  to  sound. 

Near  Anthony's  Nose,  the  wind  is  compressed 
with  the  force  of  a  huge  bellows,  and  the  ship  an- 
chored in  shelter  from  the  eddying  gale.  Signal 
fires  had  rallied  the  mountain  tribes.  As  the  ship 
lay  wind-bound  on  the  night  of  October  i,  the  In- 
dians floating  about  in  their  dugouts  grew  daring. 
One  climbed  the  rudder  and  stole  Juet's  clothes 
through  the  cabin  window.  Juet  shot  him  dead 
red-handed  in  the  act,  and  gave  the  alarm  to  the 
rest  of  the  crew.  .With  a  splash,  the  Indians  rushed 
for  shore,  paddling  and  swimming,  but  a  boat  load 
of  white  men  pursued  to  regain  the  plunder.  A 
swimmer  caught  Juet's  boat  to  upset  it.     The  ship's 

46 


FRENCH"' 


QUEBEC 


f 


HiidHon*8  Third  Voyasre  1«0», 
Ditfcorery  of  Hudson  Kirer 


Hudson's  Third  Voyage 


cook  slashed  the  Indian's  arm  off,  and  he  sank  like 
stone.  It  was  now  dark,  but  Hudson  slipped  down 
stream  away  from  danger.  Near  Harlem  River  the 
next  afternoon,  a  hundred  hostiles  were  seen  am- 
bushed on  the  east  bank.  Led  by  the  guides  who 
had  escaped  going  up  stream,  two  canoes  glided 
under  The  Half  Moon's  rudder  and  let  fly  a  shower 
of  arrows.  Much  as  Hudson  must  have  disliked 
to  open  his  powder  magazines  to  mutineers,  arms 
were  handed  out.  A  spatter  of  musketry  drove  the 
Indians  a  gunshot  distant.  Three  savages  fell. 
Then  there  was  a  rally  of  the  Indians  to  shoot  from 
shore  near  what  is  now  Riverside  Drive.  Hudson 
trained  his  cannon  on  them.  Two  more  fell.  Per- 
sistent as  hornets,  out  they  sallied  in  canoes.  This 
time  Hudson  let  go  every  cannon  on  that  side. 
Twelve  savages  were  killed. 

The  Half  Moon  then  glided  past  Hopoghan  (Ho- 
boken)  to  safer  anchorage  on  the  open  bay.  It  was 
October  4th  before  she  passed  through  the  Narrows 
to  the  Sea.  Here,  the  mutiny  reached  a  climax. 
Hudson  could  no  more  ignore  threats.  The  Dutch 
refused  to  steer  the  ship  to  Holland,  where  punish- 
ment would  await  them.  Juet  advised  wintering 
in  Newfoundland,  where  there  would  be  other  Eng- 
lishmen, but  Hudson  allayed  discontent  by  prom-, 
ising  not  to  send  the  guilty  men  to  Holland  if  they 

47 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

would  steer  the  ship  to  England;  and  to  Dartmouth 
in  Devon  she  came  on  November  7,  1609. 

What  was  Hudson's  surprise  to  learn  he  had 
become  an  enormously  important  personage!  The 
Muscovy  Gentlemen  of  London  did  not  purpose 
allowing  his  knowledge  of  the  passage  toward  the 
Pole  to  pass  into  the  service  of  their  rivals,  the  Dutch. 
Hudson  was  forbidden  to  leave  his  own  country  and 
had  to  send  his  report  to  Holland  through  Van 
Meteren,  the  consul.  The  Half  Moon  returned  to 
Holland  and  was  wrecked  a  few  years  later  on  her 
way  to  the  East  Indies.  It  is  to  be  hoped  Hudson's 
crew  went  down  with  her.  The  odd  thing  was — 
while  Hudson  was  valued  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
Polar  regions,  the  discovery  of  Hudson  River  added 
not  one  jot  to  his  fame.  In  fact,  one  historian  of 
that  time  declares:  ''Hudson  achieved  nothing  at  all 
in  1609.  ''All  he  did  was  to  exchange  merchandise 
for  furs^  Nevertheless,  the  merchants  of  Amster- 
dam were  rigging  out  ships  to  establish  a  trading 
factory  on  the  entrance  of  that  newly  discovered 
river.  Such  was  the  founding  of  New  York.  Money 
bags  sneer  at  the  dreamer,  but  they  are  quick  to 
transmute  dreams  into  gold,  though  three  hundred 
years  were  to  pass  before  any  of  the  gold  drawn 
from  his  dreams  was  applied  toward  erecting  to 
Hudson  a  memorial. 

48 


CHAPTER  IV 
1610 

HUDSON'S   FOURTH  VOYAGE 

THREE  years  almost  to  a  day  from  the  time 
he  set  out  to  pursue  his  Phantom  Dream 
along  an  endless  Trail,  Hudson  again  set 
sail  for  the  mystic  North.  This  time  the  Muscovy 
Gentlemen  did  not  send  him  as  a  company,  but 
three  members  of  that  company — Smith,  Wolsten- 
holme  and  Digges — supplied  him  with  the  bark, 
Discovery.  In  his  crew  of  twenty  were  several  of 
his  former  seamen,  among  whom  was  the  old  mate, 
Juet.  Provisions  were  carried  for  a  year's  cruise. 
One  Colebume  went  as  adviser;  but  what  with  the 
timidity  of  the  old  crew  and  the  officious  ignorance 
of  the  adviser  stirring  up  discontent  by  fault-finding 
before  the  boat  was  well  out  of  Thames  waters — 
Hudson  was  obliged  to  pack  Colebume  back  on  the 
first  craft  met  home-bound.  The  rest  of  the  crew 
comprised  the  usual  proportion  of  rogues  impressed 
against  their  will  for  a  voyage,  which  regular  seamen 
feared. 

49 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Having  found  one  great  river  north  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, Hudson's  next  thought  was  of  that  arm  of 
the  sea  south  of  Greenland,  which  Cabot  and  Frob- 
isher  and  Davis  had  all  reported  to  be  a  passage  as 
large  as  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  Greenland  Hud- 
son steered  The  Discovery  in  April,  1610.  June 
saw  the  ship  moored  off  Iceland  under  the  shadow 
of  Hekla's  volcanic  fires.  Smoke  above  Hekla  was 
always  deemed  sign  of  foul  weather.  Twice  The 
Discovery  was  driven  back  by  storm,  and  the  storm 
blew  the  smoldering  fears  of  the  unwilling  seamen 
to  raging  discontent.  Bathing  in  the  hot  springs, 
Juet,  the  old  mate,  grumbled  at  Hudson  for  sailing 
North  instead  of  to  that  pleasant  land  they  had 
found  the  previous  year.  The  impressed  sailors 
were  only  too  ready  to  listen,  and  the  wrong-headed 
foolish  old  mate  waxed  bolder.  He  advised  the  men 
"to  keep  muskets  loaded  in  their  cabins,  for  they 
would  need  firearms,  and  there  would  be  bloodshed 
if  the  master  persisted  going  by  Greenland."  And 
all  unconscious  of  the  secret  fires  beginning  to  burn 
against  him,  was  Hudson  on  the  quarter-deck  gazing 
westward,  imagining  that  the  ice  bank  seen  through 
the  mirage  of  the  rosy  North  light  was  Greenland 
hiding  the  goal  of  his  hopes.  All  you  had  to  do  was 
round  Cape  Farewell,  south  of  Greenland,  and  you 
would  be  in  the  passage  that  led  to  the  South  Sea. 

50 


Hudson  s  Fourth  Voyage 


It  was  July  when  the  boat  reached  the  southern 
end  of  Greenland,  and  if  the  crew  had  been  terrified 
by  Juet's  tales  of  ice  north  of  Asia,  they  were  panic- 
stricken  now,  for  the  icebergs  of  America  were  as 
mountains  are  to  mole-hills  compared  to  the  ice  floes 
of  Asia.  Before,  Hudson  had  cruised  the  east  coast 
of  Greenland.  There,  the  ice  continents  of  a  polar 
world  can  disport  themselves  in  an  ocean's  spacious 
area,  but  west  of  Greenland,  ice  fields  the  area  of 
Europe  are  crunched  for  four  hundred  miles  into  a 
passage  narrower  than  the  Mediterranean.  To  make 
matters  worse,  up  these  passages  jammed  with  ice- 
bergs washed  hard  as  adamant,  the  full  force  of  the 
Atlantic  tide  flings  against  the  southward  flow  of  the 
Arctic  waters.  The  result  is  the  famous  "furious 
overfall,"  the  nightmare  of  northern  seamen — a 
cataract  of  waters  thirty  feet  high  flinging  themselves 
against  the  natural  flow  of  the  ice.  It  is  a  battle  of 
blind  fury,  ceaseless  and  tireless. 

Hudson  Straits  may  be  described  as  a  great  arm 
of  the  ocean  curving  to  an  inland  sea  the  size  of  the 
Mediterranean.  At  each  end,  the  Straits  are  less 
than  fifty  miles  wide,  lined  and  intersj)read  with 
rocky  islands  and  dangerous  reefs.  Inside,  the 
Straits  widen  to  a  breadth  of  from  one  hundred  to 
two  hundred  miles.  Ungava  Bay  on  the  east  is  a 
cup-like  basin,  which  the  wash  of  the  iron  ice  has 

51 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

literally  ground  out  of  Labrador's  rocky  shore.  Half 
way  up  at  Savage  Point  about  two  hundred  miles 
from  the. ocean,  Hudson  Straits  suddenly  contract. 
This  is  known  as  the  Second  Narrows.  The  moun- 
tainous, snow-clad  shores  converge  to  a  sharp  funnel. 
Into  this  funnel  pours  the  jammed,  churning  mael- 
strom of  ice  floes  the  size  of  a  continent,  and  against 
this  chaos  flings  the  Atlantic  tide. 

Old  fur-trade  captains  of  a  later  era  entered  the 
Straits  armed  and  accoutered  as  for  war.  It  was  a 
standing  regulation  among  the  fur-trade  captains 
always  to  have  one-fourth  extra  allowance  of  pro- 
visions for  the  delay  in  the  straits.  Six  iron-shod 
ice  hooks  were  carried  for  mooring  to  the  ice  floes. 
Special  cables  called  "ice  ropes"  were  used.  Twelve 
great  ice  poles,  twelve  handspikes  all  steel-shod,  and 
twelve  chisels  to  drill  holes  in  the  ice  for  powder — 
were  the  regulation  requirements  of  the  fur  traders 
bound  through  Hudson  Straits.  Special  rules  were 
issued  for  captains  entering  the  Straits.  A  checker- 
board sky — deep  blue  reflecting  the  clear  water  of 
ocean,  apple-green  lights  the  sign  of  ice — ^was  the 
invariable  indication  of  distant  ice.  "Never  go  on 
"either  at  night  or  in  a  fog  when  you  have  sighted 
"such  a  sky" — was  the  rule.  "Get  your  ice  tackle 
"ready  at  the  straits."  "Stand  away  from  the  in- 
"  draught  between  a  big  iceberg  and  the  tide,  for  if 

52 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


"once  the  indraught  nails  you,  you  are  lost."  *'To 
"avoid  a' crush  that  will  sink  you  in  ten  minutes, 
"run  twenty  miles  inside  the  soft  ice;  that  will  break 
"the  force  of  the  tide."  "Be  careful  of  your  lead 
"night  and  day." 

But  these  rules  were  learned  only  after  centuries 
of  navigating.  All  was  new  to  the  seamen  in  Hud- 
son's day.  AU  that  was  known  to  the  northern  navi- 
gator was  the  trick  of  throwing  out  the  hook,  gripping 
to  a  floe,  hauling  up  to  it  and  worming  a  way  through 
the  ice  with  a  small  sail. 

Carried  with  the  current  southward  from  Green- 
land, sometimes  slipping  into  the  long  "tickles"  of 
water  open  between  the  floes,  again  watching  their 
chance  to  follow  the  calm  sea  to  the  rear  of  some  giant 
iceberg,  or  else  mooring  to  some  ice  raft  honeycombed 
by  the  summer's  heat  and  therefore  less  likely  to  ram 
the  hull — The  Discovery  ca.me  to  Ungava  Bay,  Labra- 
dor, in  July.  This  is  the  worst  place  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  for  ice.  Old  whalers  and  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries told  me  when  I  was  in  Labrador  that  the 
icebergs  at  Ungava  are  often  by  actual  measurement 
nine  miles  long,  and  washed  by  the  tide,  they  have 
been  ground  hard  and  sharp  as  steel.  It  is  here  they 
begin  to  break  up  on  their  long  journey  southward. 

An  island  of  ice  turned  turtle  close  to  Hudson's 
ship.    There  was  an  avalanche  of  falling  seas.  "  Into 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  ice  we  pit  jor  safety,^'  says  the  record.  '\Some 
oj  our  men  jell  sick.  I  will  not  say  it  was  jor  jear, 
though  I  saiu  small  sign  oj  other  griejJ^  Just  west- 
ward lay  a  great  open  passage — now  known  as  Hud- 
son Strait,  so  the  island  in  Ungava  Bay  was  called 
Desire  Provoked.  Plainly,  they  could  not  remain 
anchored  here,  for  between  bergs  they  were  in  danger 
of  a  crush,  and  the  drift  might  carry  them  on  any  of 
the  rock  reefs  that  rib  the  bay. 

Juet,  the  old  mate,  raged  against  the  madness  of 
venturing  such  a  sea.  Henry  Greene,  a  penniless 
blackguard,  whom  Hudson  had  picked  off  the  streets 
of  London  to  act  as  secretary — now  played  the  tale- 
bearer, fomenting  trouble  between  master  and  crew. 
"Our  master,"  says  Prickett,  one  of  Digges'  servants 
who  was  on  board,  "was  in  despair."  Taking  out 
his  chart,  Hudson  called  the  crew  to  the  cabin  and 
showed  them  how  they  had  come  farther  than  any 
explorer  had  yet  dared.  He  put  it  plainly  to  them — 
would  they  go  on,  or  turn  back?  Let  them  decide 
once  and  for  all;  no  repinings!  There,  on  the  west, 
was  the  passage  they  had  been  seeking.  It  might 
lead  to  the  South  Sea.  There,  to  the  east,  the  way 
home.  On  both  sides  was  equal  danger — ice.  To 
the  west,  was  land.  They  could  see  that  from  the 
masthead.  To  the  east,  between  them  and  home, 
the  width  of  the  ocean. 

54 


HudsorCs  Fourth  Voyage 


The  crew  were  divided,  but  the  ice  would  not  wait 
for  arguments  and  see-sawings.  It  was  crushing  in 
on  each  side  of  The  Discovery  with  an  ominous  jar  of 
the  timbers.  All  hands  were  mustered  out.  By  the 
usual  devices  in  such  emergencies — by  blowing  up  the 
ice  at  the  prow,  towing  away  obstructions,  rowing  with 
the  ship  in  tow,  all  fenders  down  to  protect  the  sides, 
the  steel-shod  poles  prodding  off  the  icebergs — The 
Discovery  was  hauled  to  open  water.  Then,  as  if  it 
were  the  very  sign  that  the  crew  needed — water  opened 
to  the  west!  There  came  a  spurt  of  wind.  The 
Discovery  spread  her  sails  to  the  breeze  and  carried 
the  vacillating  crew  forward.  For  a  week  they  had 
lain  imprisoned.  By  the  nth  of  July  they  were  in 
Hudson  Straits  on  the  north  side  and  had  anchored 
at  Baffin's  Land,  which  Hudson  named  God^s  Mercy. 

That  night  the  men  were  allowed  ashore.  It  was 
a  desolate,  silent,  mountainous  region  that  seemed 
to  lie  in  an  eternal  sleep.  Birds  were  in  myriads — 
their  flacker  but  making  the  profound  silence  more 
cavernous.  When  a  sailor  uttered  a  shout,  there  was 
no  answer  but  the  echo  of  his  own  voice,  thin  and 
weird  and  lonely,  as  if  he,  too,  would  be  swallowed 
up  by  those  deathly  silences.  Men  ran  over  the  ice 
chasing  a  polar  bear.  Others  went  gunning  for 
partridge.  The  hills  were  presently  rocketing  with 
the  crash  and  echo  of  musketry.     Prickett  climbed 

55 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

a  high  rock  to  spy  ahead.  Open  water  lay  to  the 
southwest.  It  was  Hke  a  sea — perhaps  the  South 
Sea;  and  to  the  southwest  Hudson  steered  past 
Charles  and  Salisbury  Islands,  through  "a  whurling 
sea'^ — the  Second  Narrows — between  two  high  head- 
lands, Digges  island  on  one  side.  Cape  Wolsten- 
holme  on  the  other,  eventually  putting  into  Port 
Laperriere  on  Digges  Island.  Except  for  two  or  three 
government  stations  where  whaling  captains  for- 
gather in  log  cabins,  the  whole  region  from  Ungava 
Bay  to  Digges  Island,  four  hundred  miles,  practically 
the  whole  length  of  the  Straits  on  the  south — is  as 
unexplored  to-day  as  when  Hudson  first  sailed  those 
waters. 

The  crew  went  ashore  hunting  partridge  over  the 
steep  rocks  of  the  island  and  examining  stone  caches 
of  the  absent  Eskimo.  Hudson  took  a  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  sea.  Before  him  lay  open  water — 
beyond  was  sea,  a  sea  to  the  south!  Was  it  the 
South  Sea?  The  old  record  says  he  was  proudly 
confident  it  was  the  South  Sea,  for  it  was  plainly  a 
sea  as  large  as  the  Baltic  or  Mediterranean.  Fog 
falling,  cannon  were  set  booming  and  rocketing 
among  the  hills  to  call  the  hunters  home.  It  was 
now  August  4.  A  month  had  passed  since  he  en- 
tered the  Straits.  If  it  took  another  month  to  go 
back  through  them,  the  boat  would  be  winter-bound 

5.6 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


and  could  not  reach  England.  There  was  no  time  to 
lose.  Keeping  between  the  east  coast  of  the  bay 
with  its  high  rocks  and  that  line  of  reefed  islands 
known  as  The  Sleepers,  The  Discovery  pushed  on 
south,  where  the  look-out  still  reported  "a  large  sea 
to  the  jore.^^  This  is  a  region,  which  at  this  late  day 
of  the  world's  history,  still  remains  almost  unknown. 
The  men  who  have  explored  it  could  be  counted  on 
one  hand.  Towering  rocks  absolutely  bare  but  for 
moss,  with  valley  between  where  the  spring  thaw 
creates  continual  muskeg — moss  on  water  dangerous 
as  quicksands — are  broken  by  swampy  tracks;  and 
near  Richmond,  where  the  Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Com- 
pany maintained  a  post  for  a  few  years,  the  scenery 
attains  a  degree  of  grandeur  similar  to  Norway, 
groves  covering  the  rocky  shores,  cataracts  shattering 
over  the  precipices  and  lonely  vistas  opening  to 
beautiful  meadows,  where  the  foot  of  man  has  never 
trod.  But  for  some  unknown  reason,  game  has 
always  been  scarce  on  the  east  side  of  Hudson  Bay. 
Legends  of  mines  have  been  told  by  the  Indians,  but 
no  one  has  yet  found  the  mines. 

The  fury  of  Juet  the  rebellious  old  mate,  now 
knew  no  bounds.  The  ship  had  victuals  for  only 
six  months  more.  Here  was  September.  Navigation 
would  hardly  open  in  the  Straits  before  June.  If  the 
boat  did  not  emerge  on  the  South  Sea,  they  would 

57 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

all  be  winter- bound.  The  waters  began  to  shoal  to 
those  dangerous  reefs  on  the  south  where  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  traders  have  lost  so  many  ships.  In 
hoisting  anchor  up,  a  furious  over-sea  knocked  the 
sailors  from  the  capstan.  With  a  rebound  the  heavy 
iron  went  splashing  overboard.  This  was  too  much 
for  Juet.  The  mate  threw  down  his  pole  and  re- 
fused to  serve  longer.  On  September  lo,  Hudson 
was  compelled  to  try  him  for  mutiny.  Juet  was 
deposed  with  loss  of  wages  for  bad  conduct  and 
Robert  Bylot  appointed  in  his  place.  The  trial 
showed  Hudson  he  was  slumbering  over  a  powder 
mine.  Half  the  crew  was  disaffected,  plotting  to 
possess  themselves  of  arms;  but  what  did  plots  mat- 
ter? Hudson  was  following  a  vision  which  his  men 
could  not  see. 

By  this  time,  Hudson  was  several  hundred  miles 
south  of  the  Straits,  and  the  inland  sea  which  he  had 
discovered  did  not  seem  to  be  leading  to  the  Pacific. 
Following  the  south  shore  to  the  westernmost  hay  of 
all — James  Bay  on  the  west — Hudson  recognized 
the  fact  that  it  was  not  the  South  Sea.  The  siren 
of  his  dreams  had  sung  her  fateful  song  till  she  had 
lured  his  hopes  on  the  rocks.  He  was  land-bound 
and  winter-bound  in  a  desolate  region  with  a 
mutinous  crew. 

The  water  was  too  shallow  for  the  boat  to  moor. 

58 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


The  men  waded  ashore  to  seek  a  wintering  place. 
Wood  was  found  in  plenty  and  the  footprint  of  a 
savage  seen  in  the  snow.  That  night,  November  2, 
it  snowed  heavily,  and  the  boat  crashed  on  the 
rocks.  For  twelve  hours,  bedlam  reigned,  Juet 
heading  a  party  of  mutineers,  but  next  day  the  storm 
floated  the  keel  free.  By  the  loth  of  November, 
the  ship  was  frozen  in.  To  keep  up  stock  of  provis- 
ions, Hudson  offered  a  reward  for  all  game,  of  which 
there  seemed  an  abundance,  but  when  he  ordered 
the  carpenters  ashore  to  build  winter  quarters,  he 
could  secure  obedience  to  his  commands  only  by 
threatening  to  hang  every  mutineer  to  the  yardarm. 
In  the  midst  of  this  turmoil,  the  gunner  died.  Henry 
Greene,  the  vagabond  secretary,  who  received  no 
wages,  asked  for  the  dead  man's  heavy  great  coat. 
Hudson  granted  the  request.  The  mutineers  re- 
sented the  favoritism,  for  it  was  the  custom  to  auction 
off  a  dead  man's  belongings  at  the  mainmast,  and 
in  the  cold  climate  all  needed  extra  clothing.  Greene 
took  advantage  of  the  apparent  favor  to  shirk  house 
building  and  go  off  to  the  woods  with  a  rebellious 
carpenter  hunting.  Furious,  Hudson  turned  the 
coveted  coat  over  to  Bylot,  the  new  mate. 

So  the  miserable  winter  dragged  on.  Snow  fell 
continuously  day  after  day.  The  frost  giants  set 
the  ice  whooping  and  crackling  every  night  like 

59 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

artillery  fire.  A  pall  of  gloom  was  settling  over  the 
ship  that  seemed  to  benumb  hope  and  benumb  effort. 
Great  numbers  of  birds  were  shot  by  loyal  members 
of  the  crew,  but  the  ship  was  short  of  bread  and  the 
cook  began  to  use  moss  and  the  juice  of  tamarac  as 
antidotes  to  scurvy.  As  winter  closed  in,  the  cold 
grew  more  intense.  Stone  fireplaces  were  built  on 
the  decks  of  the  ship.  Pans  of  shot  heated  red-hot 
were  taken  to  the  berths  as  a  unarming  pan.  On  the 
whole,  Hudson  was  fortunate  in  his  wintering 
quarters.  It  was  the  most  sheltered  part  of  the  bay 
and  had  the  greatest  abundance  of  game  to  be  found 
on  that  great  inland  sea.  Also,  there  was  no  lack 
of  firewood.  Farther  north  on  the  west  shor^, 
Hudson's  ship  would  have  been  exposed  to  the  east 
winds  and  the  ice-drive.  Here,  he  was  secure  from 
both,  though  the  cold  of  James  Bay  was  quite  severe 
enough  to  cover  decks  and  beds  and  bedding  and 
port  windows  with  hoar  frost  an  inch  thick. 

Toward  spring  came  a  timid  savage  to  the  ship 
drawing  furs  on  a  toboggan  for  trade.  He  promised 
to  return  after  so  many  sleeps  from  the  tribes  of  the 
South,  but  time  to  an  Indian  may  mean  this  year  or 
next,  and  he  was  never  again  seen.  As  the  ice  began 
to  break  up  in  May,  Hudson  sent  men  fishing  in  a 
shallop  that  the  carpenters  had  built,  but  the  fisher- 
men plotted  to  esqape  in  the  small  boat.    The  next 

60 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


time,  Hudson,  himself,  led  the  fishermen,  threaten- 
ing to  leave  any  man  proved  guilty  of  plots  marooned 
on  the  bay.  It  was  an  unfortunate  threat.  The 
men  remembered  it.  Juet,  the  deposed  mate,  had 
but  caged  his  wrath  and  was  now  joined  by  Henry 
Greene,  the  secretary,  who  had  fallen  from  favor. 
If  these  men  and  their  allies  had  hunted  half  as  in- 
dustriously as  they  plotted,  there  would  have  been 
food  in  plenty,  but  with  half  the  crew  living  idly  on 
the  labors  of  the  others  for  a  winter,  somebody  was 
bound  to  suffer  shortage  of  food  on  the  homeward 
voyage.  The  traitor  thought  was  suggested  by  Henry 
Greene  that  if  Hudson  and  the  loyal  men  were,  them- 
selves, marooned,  the  rest  could  go  home  with  plenty 
of  food  and  no  fear  of  punishment.  The  report  could 
be  spread  that  Hudson  had  died.  Hudson  had 
searched  the  land  in  vain  for  Indians.  All  uncon- 
scious of  the  conspiracy  in  progress,  he  returned  to 
prepare  the  ship  for  the  home  voyage. 

The  rest  of  The  Discovery s  record  reads  like  some 
tale  of  piracy  on  the  South  Sea.  Hudson  distributed 
to  the  crew  all  the  bread  that  was  left — a  pound  to 
each  man  without  favoritism.  There  were  tears  in 
his  eyes  and  his  voice  broke  as  he  handed  out  the  last 
of  the  food.  The  same  was  done  with  the  cheese. 
Seamen's  chests  were  then  searched  and  some  pil- 
fered biscuits  distributed.    In  Hudson's  cabin  were 

6i 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

stored  provisions  for  fourteen  days.  These  were  to 
be  used  only  in  the  last  extremity.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  the  idle  mutineers  used  their  food 
without  stint.  The  men  who  would  not  work  were 
the  men  who  would  not  deny  themselves.  When 
Hudson  weighed  anchor  on  June  i8,  1611,  for  the 
homeward  trip,  nine  of  the  best  men  in  the  crew  lay 
ill  in  their  berths  from  overwork  and  privations. 

One  night  Greene  came  to  the  cabin  of  Prickett, 
who  had  acted  as  a  sort  of  agent  for  the  ship's  owners. 
Vowing  to  cut  the  throat  of  any  man  who  betrayed 
him,  Greene  burst  out  in  imprecations  with  a  sort  of 
pot- valour  that"  he  was  going  to  end  it  or  mend  it;  go 
through  with  it  or  die^^;  the  sick  men  were  useless: 
there  were  provisions  for  half  the  crew  but  not 
all 

Prickett  bade  him  stop.  This  was  mutiny.  Mutiny 
was  punished  in  England  by  death.  But  Greene 
swore  he  would  rather  be  hanged  at  home  than  starve 
at  sea. 

In  the  dark,  the  whole  troop  of  mutineers  came 
whining  and  plotting  to  Prickett.  The  boat  was 
only  a  few  days  out  of  winter  quarters  and  embayed 
in  the  ice  half  way  to  the  Straits.  If  such  delays 
continued,  what  were  fourteen  days'  provisions  for  a 
voyage?  Of  all  the  ill  men,  Prickett,  alone,  was  to 
be    spared    to    intercede    for    the    mutineers    with 

62 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


Sir  Dudley  Digges,  his  master.  In  vain,  Prickett 
pleaded  for  Hudson's  life.  Let  them  wait  two  days; 
one  day;  twelve  hours!  They  called  him  a  fool! 
It  was  Hudson's  death,  or  the  death  of  all!  The 
matter  must  be  put  through  while  their  courage  was 
up!  Then  to  add  the  last  touch  to  their  villainy, 
they  swore  on  a  Bible  to  Prickett  that  what  they  con- 
templated was  for  the  object  of  saving  the  lives  of 
the  majority.  Prickett's  defense  for  countenancing 
the  mutiny  is  at  best  the  excuse  of  a  weakling,  a 
scared  fool— he  couldn't  save  Hudson,  so  he  kept 
quiet  to  save  his  own  neck.  It  was  a  black,  windy 
night.  The  seas  were  moaning  against  the  ice 
fields.  As  far  as  human  mind  could  forestall  devilish 
designs,  the  mutineers  were  safe,  for  all  would  be 
alike  guilty  and  so  alike  pledged  to  secrecy.  It  must 
be  remembered,  too,  the  crew  were  impressed  sea- 
men, unwilling  sailors,  the  blackguard  riffraff  of 
Tondon  streets.  If  the  plotters  had  gone  to  bed, 
Prickett  might  have  crawled  above  to  Hudson's 
cabin,  but  the  mutineers  kept  sleepless  vigil  for  the 
night.  At  daybreak  two  had  stationed  themselves 
at  the  hatch,  three  hovered  round  the  door  of  the 
captain's  cabin.  When  Hudson  emerged  from  the 
room,  two  men  leaped  on  him  to  the  fore,  a  third, 
Wilson  the  bo' swain,  caught  and  bound  his  arms 
behind.    When  Hudson  demanded  what  they  meant, 

63 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

they  answered  with  sinister  intent  that  he  would 
know  when  he  was  put  in  the  shallop.  Then,  all 
pretense  that  what  they  did  was  for  the  good  of  the 
crew  was  cast  aside.  They  threw  off  all  disguise 
and  gathered  round  him  with  shouts,  and  jeers,  and 
railings,  and  mockery  of  his  high  ambitions !  It  was 
the  old  story  of  the  Ideal  hooted  by  the  mob,  cruci- 
fied by  little-minded  malice,  misunderstood  by  evil 
and  designing  fools!  The  sick  were  tumbled  out  of 
berths  and  herded  above  decks  till  the  shallop  was 
lowered.  One  man  from  Ipswich  was  given  a  chance 
to  remain  but  begged  to  be  set  adrift.  He  would 
rather  perish  as  a  man  than  live  as  a  thief.  The 
name  of  the  hero  was  Phillip  Staffe.  With  a  run- 
ning commentary  of  curses  from  Henry  Greene, 
Juet,  the  mate,  now  venting  his  pent-up  vials  of 
spleen,  eight  sick  men  were  lowered  into  the  small 
boat  with  Hudson  and  his  son.  Some  one  suggested 
giving  the  castaways  ammunition  and  meal.  Juet 
roared  for  the  men  to  make  haste.  Wilson,  the 
guilty  bo' swain,  got  anchors  up  and  sails  rigged. 
Ammunition,  arms  and  cooking  utensils  were  thrown 
into  the  small  boat.  The  Discovery  then  spread  her 
sails  to  the  wind — a  pirate  ship.  The  tow  rope  of  the 
small  boat  tightened.  She  followed  like  a  despairing 
swimmer,  climbing  over  the  wave-wash  for  a  pace 
or  two ;  then  some  one  cut  the  cable.    The  casta wavs 

64 


Hudsori's  Fourth  Vayage 


were  adrift.  The  distance  between  the  two  ships 
widened.  Prickett  looking  out  from  his  porthole 
below,  caught  sight  of  Hudson  with  arms  bound  and 
panic-stricken,  angry  face.  As  the  boats  drifted 
apart  the  old  commander  shouted  a  malediction 
against  his  traitor  crew. 

"Juet  will  ruin  you  all " 

"Nay,  but  it  is  that  villain,  Henry  Greene," 
Prickett  yelled  back  through  the  porthole,  and  the 
shallop  fell  away.  Some  miles  out  of  sight  from 
their  victims,  the  mutineers  slackened  pace  to  ran- 
sack the  contents  of  the  ship.  The  shallop  was 
sighted  oars  going,  sails  spread,  coming  over  a  wave 
in  mad  pursuit.  With  guilty  terror  as  if  their  pur- 
suers had  been  ghosts,  the  mutineers  out  with  crowded 
sails  and  fled  as  from  an  avenging  demon !  So  passed 
Henry  Hudson  down  the  Long  Trail  on  June  21, 
161 1 !  Did  he  suflfer  that  blackest  of  all  despair — 
loss  of  vision,  of  faith  in  his  dream?  Did  life  sud- 
denly seem  to  him  a  cruel  joke  in  which  he  had 
played  the  part  of  the  fool?    Who  can  tell? 

What  became  of  him?  A  silence  as  of  a  grave  in 
the  sea  rests  over  his  fate.  Barely  the  shadow  of  a 
legend  illumines  his  last  hours;  though  Indians  of 
Hudson  Bay  to  this  day  tell  folk-lore  yarns  of  the 
first  Englishman  who  came  to  the  bay  and  was 
wrecked.    When  Radisson  came  overland  to  the  bay 

65 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

fifty  years  later,  he  found  an  old  house  ''all  marked 
by  bullets.''^  Did  Hudson  take  his  last  stand  inside 
that  house?  Did  the  loyal  Ipswich  man  fight  his 
last  fight  against  the  powers  of  darkness  there  where 
the  Goddess  of  Death  lines  her  shores  with  the  bodies 
of  the  dead?  Also,  the  Indians  told  Radisson  childish 
fables  of  a  "ship  with  sails"  having  come  to  the  bay; 
but  many  ships  came  in  those  fifty  years:  Button's 
to  hunt  in  vain  for  Hudson;  Munck,  the  Dane's,  to 
meet  a  fate  worse  than  Hudson's. 

Hudson's  shallop  went  down  to  as  utter  silence  as 
the  watery  graves  of  those  old  sea  Vikings,  who  rode 
out  to  meet  death  on  the  billow.  A  famous  painting 
represents  Hudson  huddled  panic-stricken  with  his 
child  and  the  ragged  castaways  in  a  boat  driving  to 
ruin  among  the  ice  fields.  I  like  better  to  think  as 
we  know  last  of  him — standing  with  bound  arms 
and  face  to  fate,  shouting  defiance  at  the  fleeing 
enemy.  They  could  kill  him,  but  they  could  not 
crush  him!  It  was  more  as  a  Viking  would  have 
liked  to  die.  He  had  left  the  world  benefited  more 
than  he  could  have  dreamed — this  pathfinder  of  two 
empires'  commerce.  He  had  fought  his  fight.  He 
had  done  his  work.  He  had  chased  his  Idea  down 
the  Long  Trail.  What  more  could  the  most  favored 
child  of  the  gods  ask?  With  one's  task  done,  better 
to  die  in  harness  than  rot  in  some  garret  of  obscurity, 

66 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


or  grow  garrulous  in  an  imbecile  old  age — the  fate  of 
so  many  great  benefactors  of  humanity! 

It  needed  no  prophet  to  predict  the  end  of  the 
pirate  ship  with  such  a  crew.  They  quarreled  over 
who  should  be  captain.  They  quarreled  over  who 
should  be  mate.  They  quarreled  over  who  should 
keep  the  ship's  log.  They  lost  themselves  in  the  fog, 
and  ran  amuck  of  icebergs  and  disputed  whether  they 
should  sail  east  or  west,  whether  they  had  passed 
Cape  Digges  leading  out  of  the  Straits,  whether  they 
should  turn  back  south  to  seek  the  South  Sea.  They 
were  like  children  lost  in  the  dark.  They  ran  on 
rocks,  and  lay  ice-bound  with  no  food  but  dried  sea 
moss  and  soup  made  of  candle  grease  boiled  with 
the  offal  left  from  partridge.  Ice  hid  the  Straits. 
They  steered  past  the  outlet  and  now  steered  back 
only  to  run  on  a  rock  near  the  pepper-colored  sands 
of  Cape  Digges.  Flood  tide  set  them  free.  They 
wanted  to  land  and  hunt  but  were  afraid  to  approach 
the  coast  and  sent  in  the  small  boats.  It  was  the 
28th  of  July.  As  they  neared  the  breeding  ground 
of  the  birds,  Eskimo  kyacks  came  swarming  over 
the  waves  toward  them.  That  day,  the  whites  rested 
in  the  Indian  tents.  The  next  day  Henry  Greene 
hurried  ashore  with  six  men  to  secure  provisions. 
Five  men  had  landed  to  gather  scurvy  (sorrel)  grass 
and  trade  with  the  fifty  Indians  along  the  shore. 

67 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Prickett  being  lame  remained  alone  in  the  small 
boat.  Noticing  an  Eskimo  boarding  the  boat, 
Prickett  stood  up  and  peremptorily  ordered  the 
savage  ashore.  When  he  sat  down,  what  was  his 
horror  to  find  himself  seized  from  behind,  with  a 
knife  stroke  grazing  his  breast.  Eskimo  carry  their 
knives  by  strings.  Prickett  seized  the  string  in  his 
left  hand  and  so  warded  off  the  blow.  With  his 
right  hand  he  got  his  own  dagger  out  of  belt  and 
stabbed  the  assailant  dead.  On  shore,  Wilson  the 
bo'swain,  and  another  man  had  been  cut  to  pieces. 
Striking  off  the  Indians  with  a  club,  Greene,  the 
ringleader,  tumbled  to  the  boat  with  a  death  wound. 
The  other  two  men  leaped  down  the  rocks  into  the 
boat.  A  shower  of  arrows  followed,  killing  Greene 
outright  and  wounding  the  other  three.  One  of  the 
rowers  fainted.  The  others  signaled  the  ship  for 
aid,  and  were  rescued.  Greene's  body  was  thrown 
into  the  sea  without  shroud  or  shrift.  Of  the  other 
three,  two  died  in  agonies.  This  encounter  left  only 
four  well  men  to  man  the  ship  home.  They  landed 
twice  among  the  numberless  lonely  islands  that  line 
the  Straits  and  hunted  partridge  and  sea  moss  for 
food.  Before  they  had  left  the  Straits,  they  were 
down  to  rations  of  half  a  bird  a  day.  In  mid-ocean 
they  were  grateful  for  the  garbage  of  the  cook's 
barrel.     Juet,  the  old  mate,  died  of  starvation  in 

68 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


sight  of  Ireland.  The  other  men  became  so  weak 
they  could  not  stand  at  the  helm.  Sails  flapped  to 
the  wind  in  tatters.  Masts  snapped  off  short. 
Splintered  yardarms  hung  in  the  ragged  rigging.  It 
was  like  an  ocean  derelict,  or  a  haunted  craft  with 
a  maimed  crew.  In  September,  land  was  sighted 
off  Ireland  and  the  joyful  cry  of  "a  sail"  raised;  but 
a  ship  manned  by  only  four  men  with  a  tale  of  dis- 
aster, which  could  not  be  explained,  aroused  sus- 
picion. The  Discovery  was  shunned  by  the  fisher 
folk.  Only  by  pawning  the  ship's  furniture  could 
the  crew  obtain  food,  sailors  and  pilot  to  take  them 
to  Plymouth.  Needless  to  say,  the  survivors  were 
at  once  clapped  in  prison  and  Sir  Thomas  Button 
sent  to  hunt  for  Hudson ;  but  Hudson  had  passed  to 
his  unknown  grave  leaving  as  a  monument  the  two 
great  pathways  of  traffic,  which  he  found — Hudson 
River  and  the  northern  inland  sea,  which  may  yet 
prove  the  Baltic  of  America. 

DATA   FOR    HUDSON'S   VOYAGES 

Purchas'  Pilgrims  contains  the  bulk  of  the  data  regarding 
Hudson's  voyages.  The  account  of  the  first  voyage  is  written 
by  Hudson,  nimsclf,  and  by  one  of  the  company,  John  Plavse, 
Playse  presumably  completing  the  log-book  directly  from  Hud- 
son s  journal.  This  is  supplemented  by  facts  taken  from 
Hudson's  manuscripts  (long  since  lost)  now  to  be  found  in 
Edge's  Discovery  of  tlie  Muscovy  Merchants  (Purchas  iii,  464) 
and  Fotherby's  statement  concerning  Hudson's  journals  (Pur- 
chas III,  730),  the  whole  being  concisely  stated  with  ample 
proofs  in  the  Hakluyt  Society's  i860  publication  on  Hudson  by 

69 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


Doctor  Ashcr.  The  account  of  the  second  voyage  is  given  by 
Hudson,  himself.  On  the  third  voyage,  the  Journal  was  kept 
by  Juet,  the  mate.  The  story  of  the  last  voyage  is  told  in  An 
Abstract  of  Hudson's  Journals  down  to  August  1610;  and  in  an 
account  written  by  that  Prickett  who  joined  the  mutineers, ; 
plainly  to  excuse  his  own  conduct.  Matter  supplementary  to' 
the  third  voyage  may  be  found  outside  Purchas  in  such  Dutch  1 
authorities  as  Van  Meteren  and  De  Laet  and  Lambrcchtsen  and 
Van  der  Donck.  Also  in  Heckeweldcr  and  Hessel  Gerritz.  Every 
American  historian  who  has  dealt  with  the  discovery  of  Hudson 
River  draws  his  data  from  these  sources.  Yates,  MouUon, 
O'Callaghan,  Brodhead  are  the  earliest  of  the  old  American 
authorities.  Supplementary  matter  concerning  the  fourth  and 
last  voyage  is  to  be  found  in  almost  any  account  of  Arctic 
voyaging  in  America,  though  nothing  new  is  added  to  what  is 
told  by  Hudson,  himself,  and  by  Prickett.  Both  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  and  the  Hakluyt  Society  of  England  have  pub- 
lished excellent  and  complete  transcripts  of  Hudson's  Voyages 
with  translations  of  all  foreign  data  bearing  on  them  including 
the  voyages  of  Estevan  Gomez  and  Verrazano  past  New  York 
harbor.  For  data  bearing  on  the  navigation  of  Hudson  Straits, 
the  two  reports  of  the  Canadian  Government  on  two  expeditions 
sent  to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  such  a  route — are  excellent; 
but  not  so  good,  not  so  detailed  and  beaiitifuUy  unguarded  as 
the  sailing  records  kept  by  the  old  sea  captains  in  the  service  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  furriers.  The  Government  reports  are  too 
guarded.  Besides,  the  ships  stayed  only  one  season  in  the 
straits;  but  these  old  fur  company  captains  sailed  as  often  as 
forty  times  to  the  bay — eighty  times  in  all  through  the  straits; 
and  I  have  availed  myself  of  Captain  Coat's  sailing  directions 
especially.  In  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  Archives,  London, 
are  literally  shelf  loads  of  such  directions.  That  modern  enter- 
prise will  ultimately  surmount  all  difficulties  of  navigation  in 
the  straits  cannot  be  doubted.  What  man  sets  himself  to  do 
— he  does;  but  the  difficulties  are  not  child's  play,  nor  imaginary 
ones  created  by  politicians  who  oppose  a  Hudson  Bay  route  to 
Europe.  One  has  only  to  read  the  record  of  three  hundred 
years'  sailing  by  the  fur  traders  to  realize  that  the  straits  are 
— to  put  it  mildly — a  trap  for  ocean  goers.  Still  it  is  interesting 
to  note,  it  is  typical  of  the  dauntless  spirit  of  the  North,  that  a 
railroad  is  actually  being  built  toward  Hudson  Bay.  Not  the 
bay,  but  the  straits,  will  be  the  crux  of  the  difficulty.  < 

When  I  speak  of  "Wreckers'  Reef"  Sable  Island,  it  is  not  a 
figure  of  speech,  but  a  fact  of  those  early  days — that  false  lights 
were  often  placed  on  Sable  Island  to  lure  ships  on  the  sand 
reefs.  Men,  who  waded  ashore,  were  clubbed  to  death  by 
pirates :     See  Canadian  Archives. 

70 


Hudson's  Fourth  Voyage 


The  Indian  legends  of  Hudson's  Voyage  to  Xew  York  are  to 
be  found  in  early  missionary  annals:  see  New  York  History, 
1811. 

The  report  of  the  Canadian  Geologic  Survey  of  Baffins  Land 
and  the  North  was  issued  by  Mr.  A.  P.  Low  as  I  completed  this 
volume. 

All  authorities — as  seen  by  the  map — ^place  Hudson's  win- 
tering quarters  off  Rupert  River.  From  the  Journals,  it  seems 
to  me,  he  went  as  far  west  as  he  could  go,  and  did  not  come 
back  east,  which  would  make  his  wintering  quarters  off  Moose. 
This  would  explain  "the  old  house  battered  with  bullets," 
which  Radisson  records. 

My  authority  for  data  on  Moose  Factory  is  Bishop  Horden. 


71 


CHAPTER  V 
1619 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  DANES  ON  HUDSON  BAY 
— JENS  MUNCK'S  crew 

THOUGH  Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Button 
came  out  the  very  next  year  after  Hud- 
son's death  to  follow  up  his  discoveries 
and  search  for  the  lost  mariner — the  sea  gave  up  no 
message  of  its  dead.  Button  wintered  on  the  bay 
(161 2-13)  at  Port  Nelson,  which  he  discovered  and 
named  after  his  mate  who  died  there.  With  him 
had  come  Prickett  and  Bylot  of  Hudson's  crew. 
Hudson's  old  ship,  The  Discovery,  was  used  w^ith  a 
larger  frigate  called  The  Resolution.  No  sooner  had 
the  ships  gone  into  winter  quarters  on  the  west  coast 
at  Port  Nelson  than  scurvy  infected  the  camp.  The 
seaport  which  was  destined  to  become  the  great 
emporium  of  the  fur  trade  for  three  hundred  years 
— became  literally  a  camp  of  the  dead.  So  many 
seamen  died  of  scurfy  and  cold,  that  Button  had 
not  enough  sailors  to  man  both  vessels  home.  The 
big  one  was  abandoned,  and  for  a  second  time  Hud- 
son's ship,  The  Discovery,  carried  back  disheartened 

72 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

survivors  to  England.  Button's  long  absence  had 
raised  hopes  that  he  had  found  passage  westward 
to  the  South  Sea.  These  hopes  were  dashed,  but 
English  endeavor  did  not  cease. 

In  1 6 14,  a  Captain  Gibbon  was  dispatched  to  the 
bay.  Ice  caught  him  at  Labrador.  Here,  he  was 
held  prisoner  for  the  summer.  Again  hopes  were 
dashed,  but  national  greatness  sometimes  consists 
in  sheer  dogged  persistence.  The  English  adven- 
turers, who  had  sent  Button  and  Gibbon,  now  fitted 
out  Bylot,  Hudson's  former  mate.  With  him  went 
a  young  man  named  Baffin.  These  two  spent  two 
years,  1615-1616,  on  the  bay.  They  found  no  trace 
of  Hudson.  They  found  no  passage  to  the  South 
Sea,  but  cruised  those  vast  islands  of  ice  and  rock 
on  the  north  to  which  Baffin's  name  has  been  given. 

The  English  treasure  seekers  and  adventurers  of 
the  high  seas  took  a  breathing  space.  Where  Eng- 
land left  off,  the  trail  of  discovery  was  taken  up  by 
little  Denmark.  Norse  sailors  had  been  the  first  to 
belt  the  seas.  Before  Columbus  was  bom,  Norse- 
men had  coasted  the  ice  fields  from  Iceland  to  Green- 
land and  Greenland  to  the  Vinelands  and  Mark- 
lands  farther  south,  supposed  to  be  Nova  Scotia 
and  Rhode  Island.  The  lost  colonies  of  eastern 
Greenland  had  become  the  folk-lore  of  Danish 
fireside. 

73 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

King  Christian  IV,  himself,  examined  the  charts 
and  supervised  the  outfitting  of  two  ships  for  dis- 
covery in  America.  The  Unicorn,  named  after  a 
species  of  whale,  was  a  frigate  with  a  crew  of  forty- 
eight  including  chaplain  and  surgeon.  The  Lam- 
prey was  a  little  sloop  with  sixteen  of  a  crew.  There 
remained  the  choice  of  a  commander  and  that  fell 
without  question  on  the  fittest  man  in  the  Danish 
navy — Jens  Munck,  such  a  soldier  of  fortune  as  the 
novelist  might  delight  to  portray. 

Munck's  father  was  a  nobleman,  who  had  sui- 
cided in  prison,  disgraced  for  misuse  of  public  funds. 
Munck's  mother  was  left  destitute.  At  twelve  years 
of  age  Jens  was  thrown  on  the  world.  Like  a  true 
soldier  of  fortune,  he  took  fate  by  the  beard  and 
shipped  as  a  common  sailor  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  the 
New  World.  When  a  mere  boy,  he  chanced  to  be 
off  Brazil  on  a  Dutch  merchant  ship.  Here,  he  had 
his  first  bout  with  fate.  The  Dutch  vessel  was  at- 
tacked off  Bahia  by  the  French  and  totally  destroyed. 
Of  all  the  crew,  seven  only  escaped  by  plunging  into 
the  water  and  swimming  ashore  in  the  dark.  Of 
the  seven  survivors,  the  Danish  boy  was  one.  He 
had  succeeded  in  reaching  shore  by  clinging  to  bits 
of  wreckage  through  the  chopping  seas.  Half 
drowned,  friendless,  crawling  ashore  like  a  bedrag- 
gled water  rat,  here  was  the  boy,  utterly  alone  in  a 

74 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

strange  land  among  a  strange  people  speaking  a 
strange  tongue. 

Such  an  experience  would  have  set  most  boys 
swallowing  a  lump  in  their  throat.  The  little  Dane 
was  too  glad  to  get  the  water  out  of  his  throat  and 
to  set  his  feet  on  dry  land  for  any  such  nonsense. 
For  a  year  he  worked  with  a  shoemaker  for  his 
board,  and  incidentally  picked  up  a  knowledge  of 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  over  the  cobbler's  last. 
The  most  of  young  Danish  noblemen  gained  such 
knowledge  from  tutors  and  travel.  Then  Munck 
became  apprentice  to  a  house  painter.  Not  a  yelp 
against  fate  did  the  plucky  young  castaway  utter, 
and  what  is  more  marvel,  he  did  not  lose  his  head 
and  let  it  sink  to  the  place  where  a  young  gentle- 
man's feet  ought  to  be — namely  the  pavement. 
Toiling  for  his  daily  bread  among  the  riffraff  and 
ruff-scuff  of  a  foreign  port,  Munck  kept  his  head  up 
and  his  face  to  the  future;  and  at  last  came  his 
chance. 

Munck  was  now  about  eighteen  years  old.  Some 
Dutch  vessels  had  come  to  Bahia  without  a  license 
for  trade.  Munck  overheard  that  the  harbor  au- 
thorities intended  to  confiscate  both  vessels.  It 
was  Munck's  opportunity  to  escape,  and  he  seized 
it  with  both  hands.  Jostling  among  the  sailors  of 
the  water-front,  keeping  his  intentions  to  himself, 

75 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Munck  waited  till  it  was  dark.  Then,  he  stripped, 
tied  his  clothes  to  his  back,  and  swam  out  to  warn 
the  Dutch  of  their  danger.  The  vessels  escaped  and 
carried  Munck  with  them  to  Europe.  Within  five 
years  he  was  sailing  ships  for  himself  to  Iceland 
and  Nova  Zembla  and  Russia — keeping  up  that  old 
trick  of  picking  up  odds  and  ends,  knowledge  of 
people  and  things  and  languages  wherever  he  went. 
Before  he  was  thirty  he  had  joined  the  Danish  navy 
and  was  appointed  to  conduct  embassies  to  Spain, 
and  Russia  where  his  knowledge  of  foreign  lan- 
guages held  good.  When  the  traders  of  Copenhagen 
and  King  Christian  looked  for  a  commander  to 
explore  and  colonize  Hudson  Bay,  Munck  was  the 
man. 

Sunday,  May  i6,  1619,  the  ships  that  were  to  add 
a  second  Russia  to  Denmark,  sailed  for  Hudson 
Bay.  Sailors  the  world  over  hate  the  Northern  seas. 
Some  of  Munck's  crews  must  have  been  impressed 
men,  for  one  fellow  promptly  jumped  overboard 
and  suicided  rather  than  go  on.  Another  died  from 
natural  causes,  so  Munck  put  into  Norway  for  three 
extra  men. 

Greenland  was  sighted  in  twenty  days — a  quick 
run  in  those  times  and  evidence  that  Munck  was  a 
swift  sailor,  who  took  all  risks  and  pushed  ahead  at 

76 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

any  cost,  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  fur  trade  captains 
considered  seven  weeks  quick  time  from  London 
to  the  Straits  of  Hudson  Bay.  A  current  sweeps 
south  from  Greenland.  Lashing  his  ships  abreast, 
Munck  ran  into  the  center  of  a  great  field  of  soft 
slob  ice,  that  would  keep  the  big  bergs  off  and  pro- 
tect the  hulls  from  rough  seas.  Then  lowering  all 
sails,  he  drifted  with  the  ice  drive.  It  came  on  to 
blow.  Slob  ice  held  the  ships  safe,  but  sleet  iced 
the  rigging  and  deck  till  they  were  like  glass  and 
life  lines  had  to  be  stretched  from  side  to  side  to 
give  hand  hold,  every  wave-wash  sending  the  sailors 
slithering  over  the  icy  decks  as  if  on  skates.  Icicles 
as  long  as  a  man's  arm  would  form  on  the  cross- 
trees  in  a  single  night.  The  ropes  became  like 
bolts — cracking  when  they  were  bent,  but  when  the 
heat  of  mid-day  came,  both  ships  were  in  a  drip  of 
thaw. 

What  with  the  slow  pace  of  the  ice  drift  and  the 
heaviness  of  the  ships  from  becoming  ice-logged,  it 
was  the  middle  of  July  before  they  reached  the 
Straits.  Eskimos  swarmed  down  to  the  islands  of 
Ungava  Bay,  but  seemed  afraid  to  trade  with 
Munck's  crew.  It  was  on  one  of  the  islands  here 
that  the  Eskimo  two  centuries  later  massacred  an 
entire  crew  of  Hudson's  Bay  Company  fur  traders, 
who  had  been  wrecked  by  the  ice  jam  and  escaped 

77 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

across  the  floes  to  the  island.  It  was,  perhaps,  as 
well  for  Munck  that  the  treacherous  natives  took 
themselves  off,  bounding  over  the  waves  in  skin 
boats,  so  light  they  could  be  carried  by  one  hand 
over  the  ice  floes.  The  collision  of  the  Atlantic  tide 
with  the  eastward  flowing  current  of  the  Straits 
created  such  a  furious  sea  as  Munck  had  never  seen. 
It  was  no  longer  safe  to  keep  The  Lamprey  lashed 
to  the  frigate,  for  one  wave  wash  caused  by  an  over- 
turning iceberg  lifted  the  little  ship  almost  on  the 
masts  of  The  Unicorn. 

The  ships  then  began  worming  their  way  slowly 
through  the  ice  drift.  A  grapnel  would  be  thrown 
out  on  an  ice  floe.  Up  to  this,  the  ships  would  haul 
by  ropes.  Both  crews  stood  on  guard  at  the  deck 
rails  with  the  long  iron-shod  ice  poles  in  their  hands, 
prodding  and  shoving  off  the  huge  masses  when  the 
ice  threatened  a  crush.  Six  hours  ebb  and  six 
hours  flow  was  the  rate  of  the  tide,  but  where  the 
Straits  narrowed  and  the  inflow  beat  against  the  ice 
jam,  the  incoming  tide  would  sometimes  last  as  long 
as  nine  hours.  This  was  the  time  of  greatest  danger, 
for  beaten  between  tide  and  ice,  the  Straits  became 
a  raging  whirlpool.  It  was  then  the  ships  had  to 
sheer  away  from  the  lashing  undertow  of  the  big 
bergs  and  stood  out  unsheltered  to  the  crush  and 
jam  of  the  drive.    Sometimes,  a  breeze  and  open 

78 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

passage  gave  them  free  way  from  the  danger.  At 
other  times,  the  maelstrom  of  the  advancing  tide 
caught  them  in  dead  calm.  Then  the  men  had  to 
leap  out  on  the  icepan  and  tow  the  ships  away. 
Soaked  to  their  armpits  in  ice  water,  toiling  night  and 
day,  one  day  exposed  to  heat  that  was  almost  tropi- 
cal, the  next  enveloped  in  a  blizzard  of  sleet,  the  two 
crews  began  to  show  the  effects  of  such  terrible  work. 
They  were  so  completely  worn  out,  Munck  anchored 
on  the  north  shore  to  let  them  rest.  At  Icy  Cove 
off  Baffin's  Land,  one  seaman — Andrew  Staffreanger 
— died.  Where  he  was  buried,  Munck  remarked 
that  the  soil  showed  signs  of  mica  and  ore.  To-day 
— it  is  interesting  to  note — those  mica  mines  are 
being  worked  in  Baffin's  Land. 

One  night  toward  the  end  of  July,  ice  swept  on 
the  ships  from  both  sides.  Suddenly  the  crew  were 
tumbled  from  their  berths  by  the  dull  rumbling  as 
of  an  earthquake.  The  boards  of  the  cabin  floors 
had  sprung.  Ice  had  heaped  higher  than  the  yard- 
arms — the  ships  were  like  toys,  the  sport  of  grim 
Northern  giants.  When  the  ships  were  examined, 
a  gash  was  found  in  the  keel  of  The  Lamprey  from 
stem  to  stem  as  broad  as  one's  hand.  Barely  was 
this  mended  when  the  rudder  was  smashed  from 
The  Unicorn.  A  great  icepan  tossed  up  on  end 
and  shivered  down  in  splinters  that  crashed  over 

79 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  decks  like  glass.  A  moment  later  a  rolling  sea 
swept  the  ships,  sending  the  sailors  sprawling,  while 
the  scuppers  spouted  a  cataract  of  waters.  Munck 
felt  beaten.  Again  he  ran  to  the  north  shore  for 
shelter.  While  the  sailors  rested,  the  chaplain  held 
services  and  made  ''offerings  to  God"  beseeching 
His  help.  Munck,  meanwhile,  went  ashore  and  set 
up  the  arms  of  the  Danish  King — a  superfluous 
proceeding,  as  Baffin  had  already  set  up  the  arms 
of  England  here. 

On  the  ebb  of  the  tide  the  sea  calmed,  and  Munck 
succeeded  in  passing  the  most  dangerous  part  of 
the  Straits — the  Second  Narrows.  An  east  wind 
cleared  the  sea  of  ice.  Sails  full  blown,  Munck' s 
ships  shot  out  on  the  open  water  of  Hudson  Bay 
in  the  first  week  of  September.  Munck  was  six 
weeks  traversing  the  Straits.  It  should  not  have 
taken  longer  than  one. 

The  storm  pursued  Munck  clear  across  the  bay. 
The  ships  parted.  Through  the  hurricane  of  sleet, 
the  man  at  the  masthead  discerned  land.  A  small 
creek  seemed  to  open  on  the  long,  low,  sandy  shore. 
Through  the  lashing  breakers  The  Unicorn  steered 
for  the  haven.  A  sunken  rock  protruded  in  mid- 
current.  Munck  sheered  off,  entered,  drove  up- 
stream and  found  himself  in  a  land-locked  lagoon 

80 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

such  as  he  could  not  have  discovered  elsewhere  on 
the  bay  if  he  had  searched  every  foot  of  its  shores. 
By  chance,  the  storm  had  driven  him  into  the  finest 
port  of  Hudson  Bay,  called  by  the  Indians,  River-of- 
the-Strangers  or  Danish  River,  now  known  as 
Churchill. 

Heaving  out  all  anchors,  the  toil-worn  Danes 
rested  and  thanked  God  for  the  deliverance.  But 
the  little  Lamprey  was  still  out,  and  the  storm  raged 
unabated  for  four  days.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
ebb  tide,  the  men  waded  ashore  in  the  dark  and 
kindled  fires  of  driftwood  to  guide  The  Lamprey  to 
the  harbor.  At  Churchill,  the  land  runs  out  in  a 
long  fine  cape  now  known  as  Eskimo  Point.  Here 
signal  fires  were  kept  burning  and  Munck  watched 
for  the  lost  ship.  Such  a  wind  raged  as  blew  the 
men  off  their  legs,  but  the  air  cleared,  and  on  the 
morning  of  September  9,  the  peak  of  a  sail  was 
seen  rising  over  the  tumbling  billows.  The  sailors 
of  The  Unicorn  ran  up  their  ensign,  hurrahed  and 
heaped  more  driftwood.  By  night  the  little  Lamprey 
came  beating  over  the  waves  and  shot  into  the  harbor 
with  flying  colors. 

The  Danes  were  astonished  at  the  fury  of  the  ele- 
ments so  early  in  the  season.  Snow  flew  through 
the  air  in  particles  as  fine  as  sand  with  the  sting  of 
bird-shot.    When  the  east  wind  blew,  ice  drove  up 

81 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  harbor  that  tore  strips  in  the  ship's  hull  the 
depth  of  a  finger.  Munck  moved  farther  up  stream 
to  a  point  since  known  as  Munck's  Cove. 

To-day  there  are  no  forests  within  miles  from 
the  rocky  wastes  of  Churchill,  but  at  that  time,  the 
country  was  timbered  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
during  the  ebb  tide  the  men  constructed  a  log  jam  or 
ice-break  around  the  ship.  Bridge  piles  were  driven 
in  the  freezing  ooze.  Timber  and  rocks  were  thrown 
inside  these  around  the  hulls.  Six  hawsers  moored 
each  ship  to  the  rocks  and  trees  of  the  main  shore. 
Men  were  kept  pumping  the  water  out  of  the  holds, 
while  others  mended  the  leaky  keels. 

It  was  October  before  this  work  was  completed. 
Then  Munck  and  his  officers  looked  about  them. 
Plainly,  they  must  winter  here.  Ice  was  closing 
the  harbor.  Inland,  the  region  seemed  bound- 
less— a  second  Russia;  and  the  Danish  officers 
dreamed  of  a  vast  trans-atlantic  colony  that  would 
place  Denmark  among  the  great  nations  of  the 
earth. 

Three  great  fireplaces  of  rock  were  constructed 
on  the  decks.  Then,  every  scrap  of  clothing  in  the 
cargoes  was  distributed  to  the  crews.  Used  to  the 
damp  temperate  climate  of  Denmark,  the  men  were 
simply  paralyzed  by  the  hard,  dry,  tense  cold  of 
America  and  had  no  idea  how  to  protect  themselves 

82 


The  Adventures  of  tJie  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

against  it.  Later  navigators  compelled  to  winter  in 
Churchill,  have  boarded  up  their  decks  completely, 
tar-papered  the  sealed  boarding  and  outside  of  this 
packed  three  feet  of  solid  snow.  Had  Munck's  men 
used  furs  instead  of  happing  themselves  up  with 
clothing,  that  only  impeded  circulation,  they  might 
have  wintered  safely  with  their  miserable  make- 
shifts of  outdoor  fireplaces,  but  they  had  no  furs, 
and  as  the  cold  increased  could  do  nothing  but 
huddle  helpless  and  benumbed  around  the  fires, 
plying  more  wood  and  heating  shot  red-hot  to  put 
in  warming  pans  for  their  berths. 

Beer  bottles  were  splintered  to  shivers  by  the 
frost.  Most  of  the  phials  in  the  surgeon's  medicine 
chests  went  to  pieces  in  nightly  pistol-shot  explo- 
sions. Kegs  of  light  wines  were  frozen  solid  and 
burst  their  hoops.  The  crews  went  to  their  beds 
for  warmth  and  night  after  night  lay  listening  to 
the  whooping  and  crackling  of  the  frost,  the  shriek- 
ing of  the  wind,  the  pounding  of  the  ice — as  if  giants 
had  been  gamboling  in  the  dark  of  the  wild  Northern 
storms.  The  rest  of  Munck's  adventures  may  be 
told  in  his  own  words: 

October  15 — Last  night,  ice  drift  lifted  the  ship  out  of 
the  dock.  At  next  low  water  I  had  the  space  filled  with 
clay  and  sand. 

October  30 — Ice  everywhere  covers  the  river.    There 

83 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

is  such  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  it  is  impossible  for  the  men 
to  go  into  the  open  country  without  snowshoes. 

November  14 — Last  night  a  large  black  dog  came  to 
the  ship  across  the  ice  but  the  man  on  the  watch  shot  him 
by  mistake  for  a  black  fox.  I  should  have  been  glad  to 
have  caught  him  ahve  and  sent  him  home  with  a  present 
of  goods  for  his  owner. 

November  27 — All  the  glass  bottles  broken  to  pieces 
by  the  frost. 

December  10 — The  moon  appeared  in  an  eclipse.  It  was 
surrounded  by  a  large  circle  and  a  cross  appeared  therein. 

December  12 — One  of  my  surgeons  died  and  his  corpse 
had  to  remain  unburied  for  two  days  because  the  frost 
was  so  terrible  no  one  dared  go  on  shore. 

December  24,  25 — Christmas  Eve,  I  gave  the  men  wine 
and  beer,  which  they  had  to  boil,  for  it  was  frozen  to  the 
bottom.  All  very  jolly  but  no  one  offended  with  as  much 
as  a  word.  Holy  Christmas  Day  we  all  celebrated  as  a 
Christian's  duty  is.  We  had  a  sermon,  and  after  the 
sermon  we  gave  the  priest  an  offertory  according  to  ancient 
custom.  There  was  not  much  money  among  the  men, 
but  they  gave  what  they  had,  some  white  fox  skins  for  the 
priest  to  line  his  coat. 

January  i.  New  Year's  Day — Tremendous  frost.  I 
ordered  a  couple  of  pints  of  wine  to  the  bowl  of  every  man 
to  keep  up  spirits. 

January  10 — The  priest  and  the  other  surgeon  took  to 
their  beds.  A  violent  sickness  rages  among  the  men. 
My  head  cook  died. 

January  21 — Thirteen  of  us  down  with  sickness.  I 
asked  the  surgeon,  who  was  lying  mortally  ill,  whether 
any  remedy  might  be  found  in  his  chest.  He  answered 
he  had  used  as  many  remedies  as  he  knew  and  if  God 
would  not  help,  there  was  no  remedy. 

84 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

It  need  scarcely  be  explained  that  lack  of  exercise 
and  fresh  vegetables  had  brought  scurvy  on  Munck's 
crew.  In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the 
pestilence  was  ascribed  not  to  man's  fault  but  to 
God's  Will. 

January  23 — This  day  died  my  mate,  Hans  Brock,  who 
had  been  in  bed  five  months.  The  priest  sat  up  in  his 
berth  to  preach  the  sermon,  which  was  the  last  he  ever 
gave  on  this  earth. 

January  25 — Had  the  small  minute  guns  discharged  in 
honor  of  my  mate's  burial,  but  so  exceedingly  brittle  had 
the  iron  become  from  frost  that  the  cannon  exploded. 

February  5 — More  deaths.  I  again  sent  to  the  surgeon 
for  God's  sake  to  do  something  to  allay  sickness,  but  he 
only  answered  as  before,  if  God  did  not  help  there  was  no 
hope. 

February  16 — Nothing  but  sickness  and  death.  Only 
seven  persons  now  in  health  to  do  the  necessary  work. 
On  this  day  died  a  seaman,  who  was  as  filthy  in  his  habits 
as  an  untrained  beast. 

February  17 — Twenty  persons  have  died. 

February  20 — In  the  evening,  died  the  priest.  Have 
had  to  mind  the  cabin  myself,  for  my  servant  is  also 
ill. 

March  30 — Sharp  frost.  Now  begins  my  greatest 
misery.  I  am  like  a  lonely  wild  bird,  running  to  and  fro 
waiting  on  the  sick. 

April  ist — Died  my  nephew,  Eric  Munck,  and  was 
buried  in  the  same  grave  as  my  second  mate.  Not  one 
of  us  is  well  enough  to  fetch  water  and  fuel.  Have  begun 
to  break  up  our  small  boats  for  fuel.  It  is  with  great  diffi- 
culty I  can  get  coffins  made. 

85 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

April  13 — Took  a  bath  in  a  wine-cask  in  which  I  had 
mixed  all  the  herbs  I  could  find  in  the  surgeon's  chest, 
which  did  us  all  much  good. 

April  14— Only  four  beside  myself  able  to  sit  up  and 
listen  to  the  sermon  for  Good  Friday,  which  I  read. 

May  6 — Died  John  Watson,  my  English  mate.  The 
bodies  of  the  dead  he  uncovered  because  none  of  us  has 
strength  to  bury  them. 

Doom  seemed  to  settle  over  the  ship  when  Munck, 
himself,  fell  ill  in  June,  On  the  floor  beside  his 
berth,  lay  the  cook's  boy  dead.  In  the  steerage 
were  the  corpses  of  three  other  men.  On  the  deck 
lay  three  more  dead,  ''for" — records  Munck — 
"nobody  had  strength  to  throw  them  overboard." 
Besides  himself,  two  men  only  had  survived.  These 
had  managed  to  crawl  ashore  during  ebb  tide  and 
had  not  strength  to  come  back. 

Spring  had  come  with  the  flood  rush  that  set  the 
ice  free.  Wild  geese  and  duck  and  plover  and  cur- 
lew and  cranes  and  tern  were  winging  north.  Day 
after  day  from  his  port  window  the  commander 
watched  the  ice  floes  drifting  out  to  sea;  drifting 
endlessly  as  though  from  some  vast  inland  region 
where  lay  an  unclaimed  empire,  or  a  passage  to  the 
South  Sea.  Song  birds  flitted  to  the  ship  and  darted 
fearfully  away.  Crows  perched  on  the  yardarms. 
Hawks  circled  ominously  above  the  lifeless  masts. 
Herds  of  deer  dashed  past  ashore  pursued  by  the 

86 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

hungry  wolves,  who  gave  over  the  chase,  stopped  to 
sniff  the  air  and  came  down  to  the  water's  edge 
howling  all  night  across  the  oozy  flats.  More 
.  .  .  need  not  be  told.  The  ships  were  a  pest 
house;  the  region,  a  realm  of  death;  the  port,  a 
place  accursed;  the  silence,  as  of  the  grave  but  for 
the  flacker  of  vulture  wings  and  the  lapping — the 
tireless  lapping  of  the  tide  that  had  borne  this  hap- 
less crew  to  the  shores  of  death.  Artist  brush  has 
never  drawn  any  picture  half  so  terrible  as  the  fate 
of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay.  .  .  .  Nor  need 
the  symptoms  of  scurvy  be  described.  Salt  diet  and 
lack  of  exercise  caused  ovenvhelming  depression, 
mental  and  physical.  The  stimulants  that  Munck 
plied — two  pints  of  wine  and  a  pint  of  whiskey  a 
day — only  increased  the  languor.  Nausea  rendered 
the  thought  of  food  unendurable.  Joints  swelled. 
Limbs  became  discolored.     The  teeth  loosened  and 

a  spongy  growth  covered  the  gums 

Four  days  Munck  lay  without  food.  Reaching 
to  a  table,  he  penned  his  last  words: 

"As  I  have  now  no  more  hope  of  life  in  this  world,  I 
request  for  the  sake  of  God  if  any  Christians  should 
hapjxjn  to  come  here,  they  will  bury  my  poor  body  together 
with  the  others  found,  and  this  my  journal,  forward  to  the 
King.  .  .  .  Herewith,  good  night  to  all  the  world, 
and  my  soul  to  God.    .    .    . 

"Jens  Mdnck." 

87 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

The  stench  from  the  ship  became  unendurable. 
The  Dane  crawled  to  the  deck's  edge.  It  was  a 
mutual  surprise  for  him  to  see  the  two  men  ashore 
alive,  and  for  them  to  see  him.  Coming  over  the 
flats  wath  painful  and  labored  weakness,  they  helped 
him  down  the  ship's  ladder.  On  land,  the  three 
had  strength  only  to  kindle  a  fire  of  the  driftwood, 
which  kept  the  wolves  off,  and  lie  near  it  sucking  the 
roots  of  every  green  sprout  within  reach.  This  was 
the  very  thing  they  had  needed — green  food.  From 
the  time  they  began  eating  weeds,  sea  nettles,  hem- 
lock vines,  sorrel  grass,  they  recovered. 

On  the  1 8th  of  June,  they  were  able  to  walk  out 
at  ebb  tide  to  the  ships  on  the  flats.  By  the  26th 
they  could  take  broth  made  of  fish  and  fresh  part- 
ridge. "In  the  name  of  Jesus  after  prayer  and 
supplication  to  God,  we  set  to  work  to  rig  The  Lam- 
prey,^^  records  Munck.  The  dead  were  thrown  over- 
board. So  were  all  ballast  and  cargo.  Conse- 
quently, when  the  tide  came  in,  the  sloop  was  so 
light  it  floated  free  above  the  ice-break  of  rocks  and 
logs  constructed  the  year  before.  Munck  then  had 
holes  drilled  in  the  hull  of  The  Unicorn  to  sink  her 
till  he  could  come  back  for  the  frigate  with  an  ade- 
quate crew.  "On  the  i6th  of  July,"  writes  Munck, 
just  a  year  from  the  time  they  had  entered  Hudson 
Straits,  "Sunday  in  the  afternoon,  we  set  sail  from 

88 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

there  in  the  name  of  God."  Neither  a  kingdom 
nor  a  Northwest  Passage  had  they  found  for  King 
Christian  of  Denmark,  but  only  hardships  unspeak- 
able, the  inevitable  fate  of  every  pioneer  of  the  New- 
World,  as  though  Nature  would  test  their  mettle 
before  she  began  rearing  a  new  race  of  men,  pioneers 
of  a  new  era  in  the  world's  long  history. 

If  it  had  been  difficult  for  crews  of  sixty-five  to 
navigate  the  ice  floes,  what  was  it  for  an  emaciated 
crew  of  three?  Forty  miles  out  from  Churchill,  a 
polar  bear  strayed  across  the  ice  sniffing  at  The 
Lamprey  when  the  ship's  dog  sprang  over  in  pursuit 
with  the  bold  spirit  of  the  true  Great  Dane.  Just 
then  the  ice  floe  parted  from  the  sloop,  and  for  two 
days  they  could  hear  the  faithful  dog  howling  behind 
in  dismay.  A  gale  came  banging  the  ship  against 
the  ice  and  smashed  the  rudder,  but  Munck  out  with 
his  grapnel,  fastened  The  Lamprey  to  the  ice  and 
drifted  with  the  floe  almost  as  far  as  the  Straits.  A 
month  it  took  to  cross  the  bay  to  Digges  Island  at 
the  west  end  of  the  Straits.  For  a  second  time,  the 
brave  mariner  worked  his  way  through  the  Straits 
by  the  old  trick  of  throwing  out  the  grapnel  and 
hauling  himself  along  the  floes.  This  time  he  was 
drifting  with  the  ice,  not  against  it,  and  the  passage 
was  easier.  Once  out  of  the  Straits,  such  a  gale  was 
raging  ^^as  would  blow  a  man  off  his  legs"  records 

89 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

•Munck,  but  the  wind  carried  him  forward.  Off 
Shetland  a  ship  was  signaled  for  help,  but  the  high 
seas  prevented  its  approach  and  the  little  Lamprey 
literally  shot  into  a  harbor  of  Norway,  on  September 
2oth.  Not  a  soul  was  visible  but  a  peasant,  and 
Munck  had  to  threaten  to  blow  the  fellow's  brains 
out  before  he  would  help  to  moor  the  ship.  With 
the  soil  of  Europe  once  more  firmly  under  their  feet, 
the  poor  Danes  could  no  longer  restrain  their  tears. 
They  fell  on  their  knees  thanking  God  for  the  de- 
liverance from  "the  icebergs  and  dreadful  storms 
and  foaming  seas." 

As  Munck  did  not  record  the  latitude  of  his  win- 
tering harbor — presumably  to  keep  his  ship  in  hiding 
till  he  could  go  for  it — doubt  arose  about  the  port 
being  Churchill.  This  doubt  was  increased  by  an 
erroneous  account  of  his  voyage  published  in  France, 
but  the  identity  of  Munck' s  Cove  with  Churchill 
has  been  trebly  proved.  The  drawing  which  Munck 
made  of  the  harbor  is  an  exact  outline  of  Churchill. 
Besides,  eighty  years  afterward  when  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Fur  Company  established  their  fort  at  Church- 
ill, brass  cannon  were  dug  from  the  river  flats  stamped 
with  the  letter  C  4 — Christian  IV.  Strongest  con- 
firmation of  all  were  the  Indian  legends.  The  sav- 
ages called  the  river.  River  of  Strangers,  because  when 

90 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 

they  came  down  to  the  shore  in  the  summer  of  1620, 
they  found  clothing  and  the  corpses  of  a  race  they 
had  never  seen  before.  When  they  beheld  the  ship 
at  ebb  tide,  they  could  hardly  believe  their  senses, 
and  when  they  found  it  full  of  plunder,  their  wonder 
was  unspeakable.  But  the  joy  was  short-lived. 
Drying  the  cargo  above  their  fires,  kegs  of  gunpowder 
came  in  contact  with  a  spark.  Plunder  and  plun- 
derers and  ship  were  blown  to  atoms.  Henceforth, 
Churchill  became  ill  omened  as  the  River-of-the- 
Strangers. 

The  same  erroneous  French  account  records  that 
Munck  suicided  from  chagrin  over  his  failure.  This 
is  a  confusion  with  Munck's  father.  The  Dane  had 
seen  enough  to  know  while  there  was  no  Northwest 
Passage,  there  was  an  unclaimed  kingdom  for  Den- 
mark, and  he  had  planned  to  come  back  to  Churchill 
with  colonists  when  war  broke  out  in  Europe.  Munck 
went  back  to  the  navy  and  was  in  active  service  to 
within  a  few  hours  of  his  death  on  June  3,  1628. 

Many  nameless  soldiers  go  down  to  death  in  every 
victory.  The  exploration  of  America  was  one  long- 
fought  battle  of  three  hundred  years  in  which  count- 
less heroes  went  down  to  nameless  graves  in  what 
appeared  to  be  failure.  But  it  was  not  failure. 
Their  little  company,  their  scouts,  the  flanking  move- 
ment— met  defeat,  but  the  main  body  moved  on  to 

91 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

victory.  The  honor  was  not  the  less  because  their 
division  was  the  one  to  be  mowed  down  in  death. 
So  it  was  with  Jens  Munck.  His  crews  did  their 
own  little  part  in  their  own  little  unknown  corner, 
and  they  perished  miserably  doing  it.  They  could 
not  foresee  the  winning  of  a  continent  from  realms 
as  darkly  unknown  as  Hades  behind  its  portals. 
Not  the  less  is  the  honor  theirs. 

By  what  chances  does  Destiny  or  Providence  direct 
the  affairs  of  nations  and  men?  If  Munck  had  not 
been  called  back  to  the  navy  and  had  succeeded 
in  bringing  the  colonists  as  he  planned  back  to 
Hudson  Bay,  Radisson  would  not  have  captured 
that  region  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Though 
Hudson,  an  Englishman,  had  discovered  the  bay, 
one  might  almost  say  if  Munck  had  succeeded,  as 
far  as  the  Northwest  is  concerned,  there  would  have 
been  no  British  North  America. 

NOTES   ON   MUNCK 

Munck's  Voyages,  written  by  himself  and  dedicated  to  the 
King  of  Denmark,  appeared  in  Copenhagen  in  1624.  Unfor- 
tunately before  his  authentic  account  appeared,  stories  of  his 
voyage  had  been  told  in  France  from  mere  hearsay,  by  La 
Peyrere.  It  is  this  erroneous  version  of  Munck's  adventures 
that  appears  in  various  collections  of  voyages,  such  as  Church- 
ill's and  Jeremie's  Relation  in  the  Bernard  Collection.  Of  modern 
authorities  on  Munck,  Vol.  II  of  the  Hakluyt  Society  for  1897, 
and  the  writings  of  Mr.  Lauridsen  of  Copenhagen  stand  first. 
Data  on  the  topography  of  the  Straits  and  Bay  and  Baffin's 
Land  may  be  found  in  the  Canadian  Government  Reports  from 

92 


The  Adventures  of  the  Danes  on  Hudson  Bay 


1877  down  to  1906.  But  best  of  all  are  the  directions  of  the 
old  sailing  masters  employed  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
which  are  only  to  be  found  in  the  Archives  of  Hudson's  Bay 
House,  London.  In  English  reports — though  all  English  ac- 
counts of  Munck  except  the  Hakluyt  Society's  are  limited  to  a 
few  paragraphs — his  name  is  spelled  Munk.  He,  himself,  spelled 
it  Munck. 


93 


PART  II 

1662-1713 

How  the  Sea  of  the  North  is  Discovered  Over- 
land by  the  French  Explorers  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
— Radisson,  the  Pathfinder,  Founds  the  Company 
of  the  Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England  Trading 
to  Hudson's  Bay  and  Leads  the  Company  a  Dance 
for  Fifty  Years — He  is  Followed  by  the  French 
Raiders  Under  d'lberville. 


CHAPTER  VI 

1662-1674 

RADISSON,     THE    PATHFINDER,     DISCOVERS    HUDSON 
BAY   AND    FOUNDS    THE   COMPANY   OF   GEN- 
TLEMEN   ADVENTURERS 

FOR  fifty  years  the  great  inland  sea,  which 
Hudson  had  discovered,  lay  in  a  silence  as 
of  death.  To  the  east  of  it  lay  a  vast  pen- 
insular territor)' — crumpled  rocks  scored  and  seamed 
by  rolling  rivers,  cataracts,  upland  tarns — Labrador, 
in  area  the  size  of  half  a  dozen  European  kingdoms. 
To  the  south,  the  Great  Clay  Belt  of  untracked,  im- 
penetrable forests  stretched  to  the  watershed  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  in  area  twice  the  size  of  modern  Ger- 
many. West  of  Hudson  Bay  lay  what  is  now  known 
as  the  Great  Northwest  —  Keewatin,  Manitoba, 
Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  Mackenzie  River  and  Brit- 
ish Columbia — in  area,  a  second  Russia;  but  the 
primeval  world  lay  in  undisturbed  silence  as  of  death. 
Fox  and  James  had  come  to  the  bay  ten  years  after 
Jens  Munck,  the  Dane;  and  the  record  of  their  suf- 
ferings has  been  compared  to  the  Book  of  Lamenta- 

97 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

r 

tions;  but  the  sea  gave  up  no  secret  of  its  dead,  no 
secret  of  open  passage  way  to  the  Orient,  no  inkling 
of  the  immeasurable  treasures  hidden  in  the  forest 
and  mine  and  soil  of  the  vast  territory  bordering  its 
coasts. 

A  new  era  was  now  to  open  on  the  bay — an  era  of 
wildwood  runners  tracking  the  snow-padded  silences ; 
of  dare-devil  gamesters  of  the  wilderness  sweeping 
down  the  forested  waterways  to  midnight  raid  and 
ambuscade  and  massacre  on  the  bay;  of  two  great 
powers — first  France  and  England,  then  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Fur  Company  and  the  Nor'WesterS — 
locked  in  death-grapple  during  a  century  for  the 
prize  of  dominion  over  the  immense  unknown  terri- 
tory inland  from  the  bay.  Hudson  and  Jens  Munck, 
Vikings  of  the  sea,  were  to  be  succeeded  by  those  in- 
trepid knights  of  the  wilderness,  Radisson  the  path- 
finder, and  d'Iberville,  the  wildwood  rover.  The 
third  era  on  Hudson  Bay  comes  down  to  our  own 
day.  It  marks  the  transition  from  savagery  with 
semi-barbaric  splendor,  with  all  its  virtues  of  out- 
door life  and  dashing  bravery,  and  all  its  vices  of 
unbridled  freedom  in  a  no-man's  land  with  law  of 
neither  God  nor  man — to  modern  commerce;  the 
transition  from  the  Eskimo's  kyack  and  voyageur's 
canoe  over  trackless  waters  to  latter-day  Atlantic 
liners  plowing  furrows  over  the  main  to  the  marts 

98 


Radisson,  the  Pathfinder 


of  commerce,  and  this  period,  too,  is  best  typified  in 
two  commanding  figures  that  stand  out  colossally 
from  other  actors  on  the  bay — Lord  Selkirk,  the 
young  philanthropist,  and  Lord  Strathcona,  whose 
activities  only  began  at  an  age  when  other  men 
have  either  made  or  marred  their  careers.  For  three 
hundred  years,  the  history  of  Hudson  Bay  and  of  all 
that  region  for  which  the  name  stands  is  really  the 
history  of  these  four  men — Radisson,  d'Iberville, 
Selkirk  and  Strathcona. 

While  Hudson  Bay  lay  in  its  winter  sleep,  the 
world  had  gone  on.  The  fur  traders  of  New  France 
had  pushed  westward  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
Great  Lakes  and  Mississippi.  In  fact,  France  was 
making  a  bold  bid  for  the  possession  of  all  America 
except  New  Spain,  and  if  her  kings  had  paid  more 
attention  to  her  colonies  and  less  to  the  fripperies 
of  the  fool-men  and  fool-women  in  her  courts,  the 
French  flag  might  be  waving  over  the  most  of  Amer- 
ica to-day.  In  New  England,  things  had  also  gone 
apace.  New  York  had  gone  over  from  Dutgh  to 
English  rule,  and  the  commissioners  of  His  Majesty, 
King  Charles  II,  were  just  returning  from  revising 
the  affairs  of  the  American  plantations  consequent 
upon  the  change  from  Cromwell's  Commonwealth 
to  the  Stuart's  Restoration.    In  England,  at  Oxford, 

99 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  Charles  himself,  fled  from  the  plague  of  London. 
Majesty  was  very  jaded.  Success  had  lost  its  relish 
and  pleasure  had  begun  to  pall  from  too  much  sur- 
feit. It  was  a  welcome  spur  to  the  monarch's  idle 
languor  when  word  came  posthaste  that  the  royal 
commissioner,  Sir  George  Carterett,  had  just  arrived 
from  America  accompanied  by  two  famous  French- 
men with  a  most  astonishing  story. 

They  had  set  sail  from  America  on  August  i, 
1665,  Carterett  bearing  a  full  report  of  conditions  in 
the  American  plantations.  When  off  Spain,  their 
boat  had  been  sighted,  pursued,  captured  and 
boarded  by  a  Dutch  privateer — The  Caper.  For 
two  hours,  hull  to  hull,  rail  to  rail,  hand  to  hand, 
they  had  fought,  the  men  behind  the  guns  at  the  port- 
holes of  one  ship  looking  into  the  smoke-grimed 
faces  of  the  men  behind  the  guns  on  the  other  ship 
till  a  roaring  broadside  from  The  Caper  tore  the 
entrails  out  of  Carterett's  ship.  Carterett  just  had 
time  to  fling  his  secret  dispatches  overboard  when 
a  bayonet  was  leveled  at  his  breast  and  he  surren- 
dered his  sword  a  captive.  Likewise  did  two  French 
companions.  Taken  on  board  The  Caper,  all  three 
were  severely  questioned — especially  the  French- 
men. Why  were  they  with  Carterett?  Where  were 
they  going?  Where  had  they  come  from?  Could 
they  not  be  persuaded  to  go  to  Holland  with  their 

100 


Radisson,  the  Pathfinder 


extraordinary  story.  One — Medard  Chouart  de 
Groseillers — was  a  middle-aged  man,  heavily  bearded, 
swarthy,  weather-worn  from  a  life  in  the  wilderness. 
The  other — his  brother-in-law — Pierre  Esprit  Rad- 
isson, was  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age.  He  was  clean- 
shaved,  thin,  lithe,  nervous  with  the  restlessness  of 
bottled-up  energies,  with  a  dash  in  his  manners  that 
was  a  cut  between  the  courtier  and  the  wilderness 
runner.  These  were  the  two  men  of  whom  such 
famous  stories  had  been  told  these  ten  years  back — 
the  most  renowned  and  far  traveled  wood-runners 
that  New  France  had  yet  produced.  It  was  they, 
who  had  brought  600,000  beaver  skins  to  Quebec 
on  a  single  trip  from  the  North.  How  they  had  been 
robbed  by  the  governor  of  New  France  and  driven) 
from  Quebec  to  Cape  Breton,  where,  out  of  jealousy, 
they  were  set  upon  and  mobbed,  escaping  only  with 
the  clothes  on  their  backs  to  Port  Royal,  Nova  Scotia 
— was  known  to  all  men.  In  vain,  they  had  ap- 
pealed to  France  for  justice.  The  robber  governor 
was  all  powerful  at  the  French  court  and  the  two 
explorers — penniless  nobodies  pitting  their  power 
against  the  influence  of  wealth  and  nobility — were 
dismissed  from  the  court  as  a  joke.  They  had  been 
promised  a  vessel  to  make  farther  explorations  in 
the  North,  but  when  they  came  to  Isle  Perc^,  south 
of  Anticosti,  to  await  the  vessel,  a  Jesuit  was  sent 

lOI 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  them  with  word  that  the  promise  had  been  a 
put-off  to  rid  the  court  of  troublesome  suitors — in 
a  word,  a  perfidious  joke.  There  had  followed  the 
flight  to  Cape  Breton,  the  setting  to  work  of  secret 
influence  against  them,  the  mob,  the  attempted 
murder,  the  flight  to  Port  Royal,  Nova  Scotia.  Port 
Royal  was  at  this  time  under  English  rule,  and  an 
English  captain,  Zachariah  Gillam,  offered  his  ship 
for  their  trip  North,  but  when  up  opposite  Hudson 
Straits,  the  captain  had  been  terrified  by  the  ice  and 
lost  heart.  He  turned  back.  The  season  was 
wasted.  The  two  Frenchmen  had  then  clubbed 
their  dwindling  fortunes  together  and  had  engaged 
two  vessels  on  their  own  account,  but  fishing  to  lay 
up  supplies  at  Sable  Island,  one  of  the  vessels  had 
been  wrecked.  For  four  years  they  had  been 
hounded  by  a  persistent  ill-luck :  First,  when  robbed 
by  the  French  governor  on  pretense  of  a  fine  for 
going  to  the  North  without  his  permission;  second, 
when  befooled  by  the  false  promises  of  the  French 
court;  third,  when  Captain  Gillam  refused  to  pro- 
ceed farther  amid  the  Northern  ice ;  and  now,  when 
the  wreck  of  the  vessel  involved  them  in  a  lawsuit. 
In  Boston,  they  had  won  their  lawsuit,  but  the  ill-luck 
left  them  destitute.  Carterett,  the  Royal  Com- 
missioner, had  met  them  in  Boston  and  had  per- 
suaded them  to  come  to  England  with  him. 

1 02 


Radisson,  the  Pathfinder 


The  commander  of  the  Dutch  ship  listened  to 
their  story  and  took  down  a  report  of  it  in  writing. 
Could  they  not  be  persuaded  to  come  on  with  him  to 
Holland?  The  two  Frenchmen  refused  to  leave 
Carterett.  Groseillers,  Radisson  and  Carterett  were 
then  landed  in  Spain.  From  Spain,  they  begged* 
and  borrowed  and  pawned  their  way  to  France,  and 
from  France  got  passage  to  Dover.  Here,  then,  they 
had  come  to  the  king  at  Oxford  with  their  amazing 
story. 

The  stirring  adventures  of  these  two  explorers, 
I  have  told  in  another  volume,  and  an  exact  trans- 
cript of  their  journals  I  am  giving  elsewhere,  but 
their  story  was  one  to  make  King  Charles  marvel. 
How  Radisson  as  a  boy  had  been  captured  by  the 
Mohawks  and  escaped  through  the  Dutch  settle- 
ment of  New  York;  how,  as  a  youth,  he  had  helped 
the  Jesuits  to  flee  from  a  beleaguered  fort  at  Onon- 
daga; how  before  he  was  twenty-five  years  old,  he 
had  gone  overland  to  the  Mississippi  where  he  heard 
from  Cree  and  Sioux  of  the  Sea  of  the  North;  and 
how  before  he  was  thirty,  he  had  found  that  sea  where 
Hudson  had  perished — all  those  adventures  King 
Charles  heard.  The  King  listened  and  pondered, 
and  pondered  and  listened,  and  especially  did  he 
listen  to  that  story  of  the  Sea  of  the  North,  which 
Henry  Hudson  had  found  in  1610  and  from  which 

103 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Radisson  sixty  years  later  had  brought  600,000 
beaver.  Beaver  at  that  time  was  worth  much  more 
than  it  is  to-day.  That  cargo  of  beaver,  which 
Radisson  had  brought  down  from  Hudson  Bay  to 
Quebec  would  be  worth  more  than  a  million  dollars  in 
modem  money. 

"We  were  in  danger  to  perish  a  thousand  times 
from  the  ice  runs,"  related  Radisson,  telling  how 
they  had  passed  up  the  Ottawa  to  Lake  Superior 
and  from  Lake  Superior  by  canoe  seven  hundred 
miles  north  to  Hudson  Bay.  "We  had  thwarted 
(portaged)  a  place  forty-five  miles.  We  came  to 
the  far  end  at  night.  It  was  thick  forest,  and  dark, 
and  we  knew  not  where  to  go.  We  launched  our 
canoes  on  the  current  and  came  full  sail  on  a  deep 
bay,  where  we  perceived  smoke  and  tents.  Many 
boats  rush  to  meet  us.  We  are  received  with  joy 
by  the  Crees.  They  suffer  us  not  to  tread  the  ground 
but  carry  us  like  cocks  in  a  basket  to  their  tents.  We 
left  them  with  all  possible  haste  to  follow  the  great 
river  and  came  to  the  seaside,  where  we  found  an 
old  house  all  demolished  and  battered  with  bullets. 
The  Indians  tell  us  peculiarities  of  the  Europeans, 
whom  they  have  seen  there.  We  went  from  isle  to 
isle  all  summer.  We  went  along  the  bay  to  see  the 
place  the  Indians  pass  the  summer.  This  river 
comes  from  the  lake  that  empties  in  the  Saguenay 

104 


Radissoti,  the  Pat Ji finder 


at  Tadoussac,  a  hundred  leagues  from  where  we 
were  in  the  Bay  of  the  North.  We  left  in  the  place 
our  mark  and  rendezvous.  We  passed  the  summer 
coasting  the  sea.  This  is  a  vast  country.  The 
people  are  friendly  to  the  Sioux  and  the  Cree.  We 
followed  another  river  back  to  the  Upper  Lake  (Lake 
Superior)  and  it  was  midwinter  before  we  joined 
the  company  at  our  fort"  (north  of  Lake  Superior). 
When  King  Charles  moved  from  Oxford  to  Wind- 
sor, Radisson  and  Groseillers  were  ordered  to  ac- 
company him,  and  when  the  monarch  returned  to 
London,  the  two  Frenchmen  were  commanded  to 
take  chambers  in  town  within  reach  of  the  court, 
and  what  was  more  to  the  point,  the  King  assigned 
them  £2  a  week  maintenance,  for  they  were  both 
destitute,  as  penniless  soldiers  of  fortune  as  ever 
graced  the  throne  room  of  a  Stuart.  At  Oxford,  too, 
they  had  met  Prince  Rupert,  and  Prince  Rupert 
espoused  their  cause  with  the  enthusiasm  of  an  ad- 
venturer, whose  fortunes  needed  mending.  The 
plague,  the  great  fire  in  London,  and  the  Dutch  war — 
— all  prevented  King  Charles  according  the  adven- 
turers immediate  help,  but  within  a  year  from  their 
landing,  he  writes  to  James,  Duke  of  York,  as  chief 
of  the  navy,  ordering  the  Admiralty  department  to 
f  loan  the  two  Frenchmen  the  ship  Eaglet  of  the  South 
Sea  fleet  for  a  voyage  to  Hudson  Bay,  for  the  purpose 

105 


The  Cotiquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

of  prosecuting  trade  and  extending  their  explora- 
tions toward  the  South  Sea.  I  have  his  letter  issuing 
the  instructions,  and  it  is  interesting  as  proving  that 
the  initiative  came  from  King  Charles,  as  Prince 
Rupert  has  hitherto  received  all  the  credit  for  organ- 
izing the  Adventurers  of  England  trading  to  Hudson 
Bay.  Prince  Rupert  and  half  a  dozen  friends  were 
to  bear  the  expense  of  wages  to  the  seamen  and 
victualling  the  ships.  During  the  long  period  of 
waiting,  Charles  presented  Radisson  with  a  gold 
medal  and  chain.  To  Groseillers — if  French  tradi- 
tion is  to  be  accepted — he  gave  some  slight  title  of 
nobility.  During  this  time,  too,  Radisson  and 
Groseillers  heard  from  the  captain  of  the  Dutch 
ship,  who  had  questioned  them.  There  came  a  spy 
from  Amsterdam — Eli  Godefroy  Touret,  who  first 
tried  to  bribe  the  Frenchmen  to  come  to  Holland, 
and  failing  that,  openly  accused  them  of  counter- 
feiting money.  The  accusation  could  not  be  proved, 
and  the  spy  was  imprisoned. 

The  year  1667-8  was  spent  in  preparations  for  the 
voyage.  In  addition  to  The  Eaglet  under  Captain 
Stannard,  the  ship  Nonsuch  under  Captain  Gillam, 
who  had  failed  to  reach  the  bay  from  Nova  Scotia — 
was  chartered.  As  far  as  I  could  gather  from  the 
old  documents  in  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London,  the 
ships  were  supplied  with  provisions  and  goods  for 

106 


Radisson,  the  Pathfinder 


trade  by  leading  merchants,  who  were  given  a  share 
in  the  venture.  The  cash  required  was  for  the  sea- 
men's wages,  running  from  £20  to  £30  a  year,  and 
for  the  officer's  pay,  £3  a  month  to  the  surgeons,  ;j^5o 
a  trip  to  the  captains,  with  a  bounty  if  the  venture 
succeeded.  With  the  bounty,  Gillam  received  £160 
for  this  trip,  Stannard,  £280.  Thomas  Gorst,  who 
went  as  accountant,  and  Mr.  Sheppard  as  chief 
mate,  were  to  assume  command  if  anything  hap- 
pened to  Radisson  and  Groseillers.  All,  who  ad- 
vanced either  cash,  or  goods,  or  credit  for  goods, 
were  entered  in  a  stock  book  as  Adventurers  for  so 
many  pounds.  There  was  as  yet  no  company  or- 
ganized. It  was  a  pure  gamble — a  speculation 
based  on  the  word  of  two  penniless  French  adven- 
turers, and  in  the  spirit  of  the  true  gambler,  gay 
were  the  doings.  Captain  Gillam  facetiously  pre- 
sents the  Adventurers  with  a  bill  for  five  shilling  for 
a  rat  catcher.  The  gentlemen  honor  the  bill  with  a 
smile,  order  a  pipe  of  canary,  three  tuns  of  wine, 
"a  dinner  with  pullets,"  dinners,  indeed,  galore, 
at  the  Three  Tunns  and  the  Exchange  Tavern  and 
the  Sun,  at  which  Prince  Rupert  and  Albermarle 
and  perhaps  the  King,  himself,  "make  merry  like 
right  worthy  gentlemen."  Everybody  is  in  rare, 
good  humor,  for  you  must  remember  Mr.  Radisson 
brought  back  600,000  beaver  from  that  Sea  of  the 

107 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

North,  and  the  value  of  600,000  beaver  divided 
among  less  than  a  dozen  Adventurers  would  mean 
a  tidy  $100,000  of  modern  money  to  each  man. 
Then,  the  gentlemen  go  down  to  Gravesend  Docks 
to  see  the  ships  off.  Each  seaman  shakes  hands 
heartily  with  his  patron.  Then  the  written  com- 
mission is  delivered  to  the  captains: 

"You  are  to  saile  with  the  first  wind  that  presents, 
keeping  company  with  each  other  to  your  place  of  ren- 
dezvous (the  old  mark  set  up  by  Radisson  when  he  went 
overland  to  the  bay.)  You  are  to  saile  to  such  place  as 
Mr.  Gooseberry  (Groseillers)  and  Mr.  Radisson  shall 
direct  to  trade  with  the  Indians  there,  delivering  the  goods 
you  carry  in  small  parcells  no  more  than  fifty  pounds 
worth  at  a  time  out  of  each  shipp,  the  furs  in  exchange  to 
stowe  in  each  shipp  before  delivering  out  any  more  goods, 
according  to  the  particular  advice  of  Mr.  Gooseberry 
(Groseillers)  and  Mr.  Radisson." 

Then  follows  a  cryptogramatic  order,  which  would 
have  done  credit  to  the  mysterious  cipher  of  pirates 
on  the  high  seas. 

"You  are  to  take  notice  that  the  Nampumpeage  which 
you  carry  with  you  is  part  of  our  joynt  cargoes  wee  having 
bought  it  for  money  for  Mr.  Gooseberry  and  Mr.  Radisson 
to  be  delivered  by  small  quantities  with  like  caution  as  the 
other  goods." 

No  more  drinking  of  high  wines,  my  gentlemen! 
Strict  business  now,  for  it  need  scarcely  be  explained 

108 


Radissan,  the  Pathfinder 


the  mysterious  Nampumpeage  was  a  euphemism  for 
liquor.  Fortifications  are  to  be  built,  minerals 
sought,  the  cargo  is  to  be  brought  home  by  Gros- 
eillers,  while  Radisson  remains  to  conduct  trade,  and 

"You  are  to  have  in  your  thought  the  discovery  of  the 
passage  into  the  South  Sea  and  to  attempt  it  with  the 
advice  and  direction  of  Mr.  Gooseberry  and  Mr.  Rad- 
isson, they  ha\ing  told  us  that  it  is  only  seven  daies  pad- 
dUng  or  saiUng  from  the  River  where  they  intend  to  trade 
unto  the  Stinking  Lake  (the  Great  Lakes)  and  not  above 
seven  daies  more  to  the  straight  wch;  leads  into  that  Sea 
they  call  the  South  Sea,  and  from  tKence  but  forty  or  fifty 
leagues  to  the  Sea  itselfe." 

Exact  journals  and  maps  are  to  be  kept.  In  case 
the  goods  cannot  be  traded,  the  ships  are  to  carry 
their  cargoes  to  Newfoundland  and  the  New  Eng- 
land plantations,  where  Mr.  Philip  Carterett,  who 
is  governor  of  New  Jersey,  will  assist  in  disposing  of 
the  goods. 

"Lastly  we  advise  and  require  you  to  use  the  said  Mr. 
Gooseberry  and  Mr.  Radisson  with  all  manner  of  civility 
and  courtesy  and  to  take  care  that  all  your  company  doe 
bear  a  particular  respect  unto  them,  they  being  the  per- 
sons upon  whose  credit  wee  have  undertaken  this  expedi- 
tion, 
"Which  we  beseech  Almighty  God  to  prosper." 
Rupert       Albermarle 
(signed)      Craven        G.  Carterett 
J.  Hayes     P.  Colleton. 

109 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

A  last  shout,  the  tramp  of  sailors  running  round 
the  capstans,  and  the  ships  of  the  Gentlemen  Ad- 
venturers of  England  trading  to  Hudson's  Bay  are 
off;  off  to  find  and  found  a  bigger  empire  for  Eng- 
land than  Russia  and  Germany,  and  France,  and 
Spain,  and  Austria  combined. 

Notes  on  Chapter  VI. — Full  details  of  Radisson's  life  prior  to 
his  coming  to  England,  when  he  was  an  active  explorer  of  New 
France,  are  to  be  found  in  the  previous  volume.  Pathfinders 
of  the  West.  The  data  for  that  volume  came  almost  exclusively 
from  the  Marine  Archives  of  Paris.  The  facts  of  this  chapter 
are  drawn  from  the  Archives  of  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London, 
England,  which  I  personally  searched  with  the  result  of  almost 
three  hundred  foolscap  folio  pages  of  matter  pertaining  to 
Radisson,  and  from  the  Public  Records  Office  of  London,  which 
I  had  searched,  by  a  competent  person,  on  the  Stuart  Period.  It 
is  extraordinary  how  the  Archives  of  France  and  the  Archives 
of  England  dove-tail  and  corroborate  each  other  in  every  detail 
regarding  Radisson.  King  Charles'  letter  in  his  favor  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Public  Records  Office,  State  Papers,  Domestic 
Series,  Entry  Book  26.  The  Admiralty  Board  Books,  No.  15, 
contain  the  correspondence  regarding  the  voyage.  The  in- 
structions to  the  captains — five  foolscap  pages — are  in  the  S.  P. 
Dom.  Carl.  IL  No.  180.  The  exact  data  regarding  Radisson's 
movements,  given  in  this  chapter,  are  from  his  Manuscript 
Journal  in  the  Bodleian  and  from  the  two  petitions  which  he 
filed,  one  to  the  Company,  one  to  Parliament,  copies  of  which  are 
in  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London.  It  is  necessary  to  give  the 
authorities  somewhat  explicitly  because  in  the  case  of  Path- 
finders of  the  West,  the  New  York  Evening  Post  begged  readers 
to  consult  original  sources  regarding  Radisson.  As  original 
sources  are  not  open  to  the  public,  the  advice  was  worth  just 
exactly  the  spirit  that  animated  it.  However,  transcripts  of 
all  data  bearing  on  Radisson  will  be  given  to  the  public  with 
his  journals,  in  the  near  future. 


1 10 


CHAPTER  VII 
I 668-1 674 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  FIRST  VOYAGE — RADISSON 
DRIVEN  BACK  ORGANIZES  THE  HUDSON'S  BAY 
COMPANY  AND  WRITES  HIS  JOURNALS  OF  FOUR 
VOYAGES — THE  CHARTER  AND  THE  FIRST  SHARE- 
HOLDERS— ADVENTURES  OF  RADISSON  ON  THE 
BAY — THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRENCH  AND  THE 
QUARREL 

^T  LAST,  then,  five  years  from  the  time 
/-\  they  had  discovered  the  Sea  of  the  North, 
-^  -^  after  baffling  disappointments,  fruitless 
efforts  and  the  despair  known  only  to  those  who 
have  stood  face  to  face  with  the  Grim  Specter,  Ruin, 
Radisson  and  Groseillers  set  sail  for  Hudson  Bay 
from  Gravesend  on  June  3,  1668.  Radisson  was 
on  the  big  ship  Eaglet  with  Captain  Stannard,  Gros- 
eillers on  The  Nonsuch  of  Boston,  with  Captain 
Gillam. 

Countless  hopes  and  fears  must  have  animated 
the  breasts  of  the  Frenchmen.  It  is  so  with  every 
venture  that  is  based  on  the  unknowTi.  The  very 
fact  that  possibilities  are  unknown  gives  scope  to 
unbridled  fancy  and  the  wildest  hopes;  gives  scope, 

III 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

too,  when  the  pendulum  swings  the  other  way,  to 
deepest  distrust.  The  country  boy  trudging  along 
the  road  with  a  carpetbag  to  seek  his  fortunes  in 
the  city,  dreams  of  the  day  when  he  may  be  a  million- 
aire. By  nightfall,  he  longs  for  the  monotonous 
drudgery  and  homely  content  and  quiet  poverty  of 
the  plow. 

So  with  Radisson  and  Groseillers.  They  had 
brought  back  600,000  beaver  pelts  overland  from 
Hudson  Bay  five  years  before.  If  they  could  repeat 
the  feat,  it  meant  bigger  booty  than  Drake  had 
raided  from  the  Spanish  of  the  South  Seas,  for  the 
price  of  beaver  at  that  time  fluctuated  wildly  from 
eight  shillings  to  thirty-five.  And  who  could  tell 
that  they  might  not  find  a  passage  to  the  South  Seas 
from  Hudson  Bay?  That  old  legend  of  a  tide  like 
the  ocean  on  Lake  Winnipeg,  Radisson  had  heard 
from  the  Indians,  as  every  explorer  was  to  hear  it 
for  a  hundred  years.  The  explanation  is  very  simple 
to  anyone  who  has  sailed  on  Lake  Winnipeg.  The 
lake  is  so  shallow  that  an  inshore  wind  lashes  the 
waters  up  like  a  tide.  Then  sudden  calm,  or  an 
outshore  breeze,  leaves  the  muddy  flats  almost  bare. 
I  remember  being  stranded  on  that  lake  by  such  a 
shift  of  wind  for  twenty-four  hours.  To  the  Indians 
who  had  never  seen  the  ocean,  the  phenomenon 
seemed  like  the  tide  of  which  the  white  man  told, 

112 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

so  Radisson  had  reported  to  the  Adventurers  that 
the  Indians  said  the  South  Sea  was  only  a  few  weeks' 
journey  from  Hudson  Bay. 

Radisson,  whose  highest  hope  from  boyhood  was 
to  be  a  great  explorer,  must  have  dreamed  his  dreams 
as  the  ships  slid  along  the  glassy  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  westward.  Six  weeks,  ordinarily,  it  took 
sailing  vessels  to  go  from  the  Thames  to  the  mouth 
of  Hudson  Straits,  but  furious  storms — as  if  the  very 
elements  themselves  were  bent  on  the  defeat  of  these 
two  indomitable  men — drove  their  ships  apart  half 
way  across  the  Atlantic.  As  is  often  the  case,  the 
little  ship — Gillam's  N&tisuch — ^weathered  the  hur- 
ricane. Now  buried  under  billows  mountain-high, 
with  the  yardarms  drenched  by  each  wash  of  the 
pounding  breakers,  now  plowing  through  the  cata- 
ract of  waters,  the  little  Nonstick  kept  her  head 
to  the  wind,  and  if  a  sea  swept  from  stem  to  stern, 
battened  hatches  and  masts  naked  of  sails  took  no 
harm.  The  staunch  craft  kept  on  her  sea  feet,  and 
was  not  knocked  keel  up. 

But  The  Eaglet,  with  Radisson,  was  in  bad  way. 
Larger  and  ponderous  in  motion,  she  could  not  shift 
quick  to  the  raging  gale.  Blast  after  blast  caught 
her  broadsides.  The  masts  snapped  off  like  sap- 
lings uprooted  by  storm.  A  tornado  of  waters  threw 
the  ship  on  her  side  "till  we   had  like  to  have 

113 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

swamped^^ — relate  the  old  Company  records — and 
when  the  storm  cleared  and  the  ship  righted,  behold, 
of  The  Eaglet  there  is  left  only  the  bare  hull,  with 
deck  boards  and  cabin  floors  spnmg  in  a  dozen 
places.  The  other  ship  was  out  of  sight.  Carpen- 
ters were  set  at  \vork  to  rig  the  lame  vessel  up.  It 
was  almost  October  before  the  battered  hull  came 
crawling  limply  to  her  dock  on  the  Thames.  There, 
Sir  James  Hayes,  Rupert's  secretary,  turned  her 
over  to  the  Admiralty. 

Adversity  is  a  great  tester  of  a  man's  mettle.  When 
some  men  fall  they  tumble  down  stairs.  Other 
men,  when  they  fall,  make  a  point  of  falling  up 
stairs.  Radisson  was  of  the  latter  class.  His  activ- 
ity redoubled.  The  design  in  the  first  place  had 
been  for  one  of  the  two  ships  to  winter  on  the  bay; 
the  other  ship  to  come  back  to  England  in  order  to 
return  to  the  bay  with  more  provisions.  Radisson 
urged  his  associates  not  to  leave  The  Nonsuch  in 
the  lurch.  Application  was  made  to  the  Admiralty 
for  another  ship.  The  Wavero  of  the  West  Indies 
was  granted.  Radisson  spent  the  winter  of  1668-69 
fitting  up  this  ship  and  writing  the  account  of  his 
first  four  voyages  through  the  wilds  of  America,  "and 
T  hope^^ — he  concludes  the  fourth  voyage — "to  em- 
hark  e  myselje  by  ye  helpe  of  God  this  fourth  year" 
of  coming  to  England.     But  The  Wavero  on  which 

114 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

Radisson  sailed  in  March,  1669,  proved  unsea- 
worthy.  She  had  to  turn  back.  What  was  Rad- 
isson's  dehght  to  find  anchored  in  the  Thames,  The 
Nonsuch,  with  his  brother-in-law,  Groseillers. 

After  parting  from  the  disabled  Eaglet,  The  Non- 
such had  driven  ahead  for  Hudson  Straits,  which 
she  missed  by  going  too  far  north  to  Bafiin's  Land, 
but  came  to  the  entrance  on  the  4th  of  August. 
Owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  season,  the  straits  were 
free  of  ice  and  The  Nonsuch  made  a  quick  passage 
for  those  days,  reaching  Digges'  Island,  at  the  west 
end  of  the  straits  on  the  19th  of  August.  Groseillers 
and  Gillam  then  headed  south  for  that  rendezvous 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  bay,  where  the  two  French- 
men had  found  "a  house  all  battered  with  bullets," 
five  years  before,  and  had  set  up  their  own  marks. 
Slow  and  careful  search  of  the  east  coast  must  have 
been  made,  for  The  Nonsuch  was  seven  weeks 
cruising  the  seven  hundred  miles  from  Digges' 
Island  to  that  River  Nemisco,  which  had  seemed 
to  flow  from  the  country  of  the  St.  Lawrence  or  New 
France.  Here  they  cast  anchor  on  September  25, 
naming  the  river  Rupert  in  honor  of  their  patron. 
Beaching  the  ship  on  the  sand-bars  at  high  tide,  the 
crew  threw  logs  about  her  to  fend  off  ice  jams  and 
erected  slab  palisades  round  two  or  three  log  huts 
for  the  winter — a  fort  named  after  King  Charles. 

115 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Weather  favored  The  Nonsuches  crew.  The 
south  end  of  Hudson  Bay  often  has  snow  in  October, 
and  nearly  always  ice  is  formed  by  November. 
This  year,  the  harbor  did  not  freeze  till  the  9th  of 
December,  but  when  the  frost  did  come  it  was  a 
thing  to  paralyze  these  Englishmen  used  to  a  climate 
where  a  pocketful  of  coal  heats  a  house.  The  silent 
pine  forests,  snow-padded  and  snow- wreathed ;  the 
snow-cones  and  snow-mushrooms  and  snow-plumes 
bending  the  great  branches  with  weight  of  snow  like 
feathers;  the  icy  particles  that  floated  in  the  air; 
ice  fog,  diamond-sharp  in  sunshine  and  starlight 
but  ethereal  as  mist,  morning  and  evening;  the 
whooping  and  romping  and  stamping  and  cannon- 
shot  reports  of  the  frost  at  night  when  the  biggest 
trees  snapped  brittle  and  the  earth  seemed  to  groan 
with  pain;  the  mystic  mock-suns  that  shone  in  the 
heavens  foreboding  storm,  and  the  hoot  and  shout 
and  rush  of  the  storm  itself  through  the  forests  like 
the  Indians'  Thunder  Bird  on  the  wings  of  the  wind; 
the  silences,  the  awful  silences,  that  seemed  to  engulf 
human  presence  as  the  frost-fog  closed  mistily 
through  the  aisled  forests — all  these  things  were  new 
and  wondrous  to  the  English  crew.  It  was — as 
Gillam's  journal  records — as  if  all  life  "had  been 
frozen  to  death."  And  then  the  marvel  of  the  frost 
world,  frost  that  fringed  your  eyelashes  and  hair 

116 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

with  breath  as  you  spoke,  and  drew  ferns  on  the 
glazed  parchment  of  the  port  windows,  and  created 
two  inches  of  snow  on  the  walls  inside  the  ship! 
Snow  fell — fell — fell,  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
muffling,  dreamy,  hypnotic  as  the  frost  sleep. 

But  these  things  were  no  new  marvels  to  Gros- 
eillers.  The  busy  Frenchman  was  ofif  to  the  woods 
on  snowshoes  in  search  of  the  Indians — a  search  in 
which  a  twig  snapped  off  short,  old  tepee  poles 
standing  bare,  a  bit  of  moose  skin  blowing  from  a 
branch,  deadfall  traps,  rabbit  snares  of  willow  twigs 
— were  his  sole  guides.  True  wood-loper,  he  found 
the  Ojibways'  camps  and  they  brought  down  their 
furs  to  trade  with  him  in  spring.  I  don't  know 
what  ground  there  is  for  it,  but  Groseillers  had  the 
reputation  for  being  a  very  hard  trader.  Perhaps  it 
was  that  the  cargo  of  600,000  pelts  had  been  brought 
back  when  he  had  gone  North  with  only  two  canoe 
loads  of  goods.  As  far  as  I  could  ascertain  from 
the  old  records,  the  scale  of  trade  at  the  time  was 
half  a  pound  of  beads,  one  beaver;  one  kettle,  one 
beaver;  one  pound  shot,  one  beaver;  five  pounds 
sugar,  one  beaver;  one  pound  tobacco,  one  beaver; 
one  gallon  brandy  (diluted?),  four  beaver;  one 
blanket,  six  beaver;  two  awls,  one  beaver;  twelve 
buttons,  one  beaver;  twenty  fishhooks,  one  beaver; 
twenty  flints,  one  beaver;  one  gun,  twelve  beaver;  one 
•    117 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

pistol,  four  beaver;  eight  bells,  one  beaver.  At  this 
stage,  trade  as  barter  was  not  known.  The  white 
man  dressed  in  gold  lace  and  red  velvets  pompously 
presented  his  goods  to  the  Indian.  The  Indian  had 
previously,  with  great  palaver,  presented  his  furs  to 
the  trader.  Any  little  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
values  might  be  settled  later  by  a  present  from  the 
trader  of  drugged  liquor  to  put  the  malcontent  to 
sleep,  or  a  scalping  raid  on  the  part  of  the  Indian. 

As  spring  came,  life  awakened  on  the  bay.  Wild 
geese  darkened  the  sky,  the  shrill  honk,  honk,  calling 
the  sailors'  notice  to  the  long  curved  lines  marshaled 
like  armies  with  leaders  and  scouts,  circling,  ma- 
neuvering, filing  north.  Whiskey  jays  became 
noisier  and  bolder  than  in  winter.  Red  bills  alighted 
in  flocks  at  the  crew's  camp  fires,  and  a  constant 
drumming  told  of  partridge  hiding  in  underbrush 
the  color  of  his  own  plumage.  There  was  no  lack 
of  sport  to  Gillam's  crew.  The  ice  went  out  with 
the  rush  of  a  cataract  in  May,  and  by  June  it  was 
blistering  hot,  with  the  canaries  and  warblers  and 
blue  jays  of  Southern  climes  nesting  in  the  forests  of 
this  far  Northern  bay.  By  June,  The  Nonsuch  was 
ship-shape  for  homeward  voyage,  and  the  adven- 
turers sailed  for  England,  coming  into  the  Thames 
about  the  time  Radisson  was  driven  back  on  The 
Wavero. 

ii8  . 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

There  is  no  record  of  what  furs  Groseillers  and 
Gillam  brought  back,  doubtless  for  the  reason  that 
the  proceeds  of  their  sale  had  to  satisfy  those  credit- 
ors, who  had  outfitted  the  ships  and  to  purchase 
new  ships  for  future  voyages.  But  the  next  move 
was  significant.  With  great  secrecy,  application 
was  made  to  King  Charles  II  for  a  royal  charter 
granting  "the  Gentlemen  Adventurers  Trading  to 
Hudson's  Bay"  monopoly  of  trade  and  profits  for 
all  time  to  come. 

In  itself,  the  charter  is  the  purest  piece  of  feudal- 
ism ever  perpetrated  on  America,  a  thing  so  alien  to 
the  thought  of  modem  democracy  and  withal  des- 
tined to  play  such  a  necessary  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  northern  empire  that  it  is  worth  examining. 
In  the  first  place,  though  it  was  practically  deeding 
away  half  America — namely  all  of  modem  Canada 
except  New  France,  and  the  most  of  the  Western 
States  beyond  the  Mississippi — practically,  I  say, 
in  its  workings;  the  charter  was  purely  a  royal  favor, 
depending  on  that  idea  of  the  Stuarts  that  the  earth 
was  not  the  Lord's,  but  the  Stuarts,  to  be  disposed 
of  as  they  wished. 

The  applicants  for  the  charter  were  Prince  Ru- 
pert, the  Duke  of  Albcrmarle,  the  Earl  of  Craven, 
Lord  Arlington,  Lord  Ashley,  Sir  John  Robinson, 
Sir  Robert  Viner,  Sir  Peter  Colleton,  Sir  Edward 

119 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Hungerford,  Sir  Paul  Neele,  Sir  John  Griffith,  Sir 
Philip  Carterett,  Sir  James  Hayes,  John  Kirke, 
Frances  Millington,  William  Pretty  man,  John  Fenn 
and  John  Portman.  "Whereas,"  runs  the  charter, 
''these  have  at  their  own  great  cost  and  charges 
undertaken  an  expedition  for  Hudson's  Bay  for  the 
discovery  of  a  new  passage  to  the  South  Sea  and 
for  trade,  and  have  humbly  besought  us  to  incor- 
porate them  and  grant  unto  them  and  their  suc- 
cessors the  whole  trade  and  commerce  of  all  those 
seas,  straits,  bays,  rivers,  creeks  and  sounds  in  what- 
soever latitude  that  lie  within  the  entrance  of  the 
straits  called  Hudson's  Straits  together  with  all  the 
lands,  countries  and  territories  upon  the  coasts  and 
confines  of  the  seas,  straits,  bays,  lakes,  rivers, 
creeks  and  sounds  not  now  actually  possessed  by 
the  subjects  of  any  other  Christian  State,  know  ye 
that  we  have  given,  granted,  ratified  and  confirmed" 
the  said  grant.  There  follow  the  official  name  of 
the  company,  ''the  Governor  and  Company  of  Ad- 
venturers of  England  trading  with  Hudson's  Bay," 
directions  for  the  appointment  of  a  governor  and  a 
governing  committee — Prince  Rupert  to  be  the  first 
governor — Robinson,  Viner,  Colleton,  Hayes,  Kirke, 
Millington  and  Portman  to  be  the  first  committee, 
to  which  elections  are  to  be  made  each  November. 
Their  territory  is  to  be  known  as  Rupert's  Land. 

120 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

Of  this  territory,  they  are  to  be  ''true  and  absolute 
lords"  paying  as  token  of  allegiance  to  the  King 
when  he  shall  happen  to  enter  these  dominions  "two 
elks  and  two  black  beaver." 

Permission  is  given  to  build  forts,  employ  mari- 
ners,, use  firearms,  pass  laws  and  impose  punish- 
ments. Balboa  has  been  laughed  at  ever  since  he 
crossed  Panama  to  the  Pacific  for  claiming  Heaven 
and  earth,  air  and  water,  "from  the  Pole  Arctic  to 
the  Pole  Antarctic  "  for  Spain ;  but  what  shall  we  say 
of  a  charter  that  goes  on  royally  to  add,  "and  further- 
more of  our  own  ample  and  abundant  grace  we 
have  granted  not  only  the  whole,  entire  and  only 
liberty  of  trade  to  and  from  the  territories  aforesaid ; 
but  also  the  whole  and  entire  trade  to  and  frpm*  all 
Havens,  Bays,  Creeks,  Rivers,  Lakes,  and  Seas  unto 
which  they  shall  find  entrance  by  water  or  land  out 
of  the  territories  aforesaid  .  .  .  and  to,  and 
with,  all  other  nations  adjacent  to  the  said  territories, 
which  is  not  granted  to  any  other  of  our  subjects?" 

In  other  words,  if  trade  should  lead  these  Ad- 
venturers far  afield  from  Hudson  Bay  where  no 
other  discoverers  had  been — the  territory  was  to  be 
theirs.  For  years,  it  was  contended  that  the  charter 
covered  only  the  streams  tributary  to  Hudson  Bay, 
that  is  to  the  headwaters  of  Churchill  and  Saskatche- 
wan and  Moose  and  Rupert  Rivers,  but  if  the  charter 

121 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  to  be  valid  at  all,  it  was  to  be  valid  in  all  its  pro- 
vision and  the  company  might  extend  its  possessions 
indefinitely.  And  that  is  what  it  did — from  Hudson 
Bay  to  Alaska,  and  from  Alaska  to  California.  The 
debonair  King  had  presented  his  friends  with  three- 
quarters  of  America. 

All  other  traders  are  forbidden  by  the  charter  to 
frequent  the  territory  on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  goods 
and  ships.  All  other  persons  are  forbidden  to  in- 
habit the  territory  without  the  consent  of  the  Com- 
pany. Adventurers  at  the  General  Court  in  Novem- 
ber for  elections  are  to  have  votes  according  to  their 
stock,  for  every  hundred  pounds  one  vote.  The 
Company  is  to  appoint  local  governors  for  the  terri- 
tory with  all  the  despotic  power  of  little  kings.  In 
case  of  misdemeanors,  law-breakers  may  be  brought 
before  this  local  governor  or  home  to  England  for 
trial,  sentence,  and  punishment.  The  Shah  of 
Persia  had  not  more  despotic  power  in  his  lands  than 
these  local  governors.  Most  amazing  of  all,  the 
Company  is  to  have  power  to  make  war  against  other 
"  Prince  or  People  whatsoever  that  are  not  Christ- 
ians," "for  the  benefit  of  the  said  company  and  their 
trade."  Should  other  English  intrude  on  the  ^r- 
ritory,  the  Company  is  explicitly  granted  the  right 
to  seize  and  expel  them  and  impose  such  punishment 
as  the  offense  may  warrant.    If  delinquents  appeal 

122 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

against  such  sentence,  the  Company  may  send  them 
home  to  England  for  trial.  Admirals,  judges, 
sheriffs,  all  officers  of  the  law  in  England  are  charged 
by  the  charter  to  "aid,  favor,  help  and  assist"  the 
Company  by  "land  and  sea.  .  .  "  signed  at 
Westminster,  May  2,  1670. 

We  of  to-day  may  well  smile  at  such  a  charter; 
but  we  must  remember  that  the  stones  which  lie 
buried  in  the  clay  below  the  wall  are  just  as  essential 
to  the  superstructure  as  the  visible  foundation.  Let 
us  grant  that  the  charter  was  an  absurd  fiat  creating 
a  tyranny.  It  was  an  essential  first  step  on  the  trail 
that  was  to  blaze  a  way  through  the  wilderness  to 
democracy. 

In  the  charter  lay  the  secret  of  all  the  petty  pomp 
— little  kings  in  tinsel — with  which  the  Company's 
underling  officers  ruled  their  domain  for  two  hundred 
years.  In  the  charter  lay  the  secret  of  all  the  Com- 
pany's success  and  all  its  failure;  of  its  almost 
paternal  care  of  the  Indians  and  of  its  outrageous, 
unblushing,  banditti  warfare  against  rivals;  of  its 
one-sidedness  in  driving  a  bargain — the  true  caste 
idea  that  the  many  are  created  for  exploitation  by 
the  few — of  its  almost  royal  generosity  when  a  de- 
pendent fell  by  the  way — the  old  monarchical  idea 
that  a  king  is  responsible  for  the  well-being  of  his 
subjects,  when  other  great  commercial  monopolists 

123 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

cast  their  useless  dependents  off  like  old  clothes,  or 
let  them  rot  in  poverty.  Given  all  the  facts  of  the 
case,  any  man  can  play  the  prophet.  With  such  a 
charter,  believing  in  its  validity  as  they  did  in  their 
own  existence,  it  is  not  surprising  the  Adventurers  of 
Hudson  Bay  ran  the  magnificent  career  the  Company 
has  had,  and  finally — ran  their  privileges  aground. 

Thus,  then,  was  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in- 
corporated. Its  first  stock  book  of  1667  before  in- 
corporation, shows  the  Duke  of  .York  to  have  ,^300 
of  stock;  Prince  Rupert,  £470;  Carterett,  ;^77o  in 
all;  Albermarle,  ;£5oo;  Craven,  ;^30o;  Arlington, 
£200;  Shaftsbury,  ;^6oo;  Viner,  ;^3oo;  Colleton, 
;^3oo;  Hungerford,  £300;  Sir  James  Hayes,  £1800; 
Sir  John  Kirke,  £300;  Lady  Margaret  Drax,  ;^3oo 
— with  others,  in  all  a  capital  of  £10,500.  The  most 
of  these  shares  were  not  subscribed  in  cash.  It  may 
be  inferred  that  the  Duke  of  York  and  Prince  Rupert 
and  Carterett  and  Sir  James  Hayes  received  their 
shares  for  obtaining  the  ships  from  the  Admiralty. 
Indeed,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  very  little 
actual  cash  was  subscribed  for  the  first  voyages. 
The  seamen  were  impressed  and  not  usually  paid, 
as  the  account  books  show,  until  after  the  sale  of 
the  furs,  and  the  provisions  were  probably  supplied 
on  credit  by  those  merchants  who  are  credited  with 

124 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

shares.  At  least,  the  absence  of  any  cash  account 
or  strong  box  for  the  first  years,  gives  that  impression. 
Mr.  Portman,  the  merchant,  it  is,  or  Mr.  Young, 
or  Mr.  Kirke,  or  Robinson,  or  Colleton  who  ad- 
vance money  to  Radisson  and  Groseillers  as  they 
need  it,  and  the  stock  accounts  of  these  shareholders 
are  credited  with  the  amounts  so  advanced.  Gillam 
and  Stannard,  the  captains,  are  credited  with  £i6o 
and  ;i^28o  in  the  venture,  as  if  they,  too,  accepted 
their  remuneration  in  stock. 

The  charter  was  granted  in  May.  June  saw 
Radisson  and  Groseillers  off  for  the  bay  with  three 
ships,  The  Wavero  under  Captain  Newland,  The 
Shajtsbury  under  Captain  Shepperd,  The  Prince 
Rupert  under  Gillam,  in  all  some  forty  men.  The 
vessels  were  loaned  from  the  Admiralty.  Bayly 
went  as  governor  to  Rupert  River,  Gorst  as  secretary ; 
Peter  Romulus,  the  French  apothecary,  as  surgeon 
at  £20  a  year.  While  the  two  big  ships  spent  the 
summer  at  Charles  Fort,  Radisson  took  the  small 
boat  Wavero  along  the  south  shore  westward,  ap- 
parently seeking  passage  to  the  South  Sea.  Monsibi 
flats,  now  known  as  Moose,  and  Schatawan,  now 
known  as  Albany,  and  Cape  Henrietta  Maria  named 
after  royalty,  were  passed  on  the  cruise  up  west  and 
north  to  Nelson,  where  Radisson  himself  erected 

125 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  English  King's  Arms.  Only  a  boat  of  shallow 
draft  could  coast  these  regions  of  salt  swamps,  muddy 
flats  and  bowlder-strewn  rocky  waters.  Moose 
River  with  its  enormous  drive  of  ice  stranded  on 
the  flats  for  miles  each  spring  was  found  by  Radisson 
to  have  three  channels.  Ninety-six  miles  northwest 
from  Moose  was  Albany  River  with  an  island  just  at 
its  outlet  suitable  for  the  building  of  a  fort.  Cape 
Henrietta  Maria,  three  hundred  miles  from  Moose, 
marked  where  James  Bay  widened  out  to  the  main 
waters  of  Hudson  Bay.  All  this  coast  was  so  shallow 
and  cut  by  gravel  bars  that  it  could  be  explored  only 
by  anchoring  The  Wavero  off  shore  and  approaching 
the  tamarack  swamps  of  the  land  by  canoe,  but  the 
whole  region  was  an  ideal  game  preserve  that  has 
never  failed  of  its  supply  of  furs  from  the  day  that 
Radisson  first  examined  it  in  1670  to  the  present. 
Black  ducks,  pintail,  teal,  partridge,  promised 
abundance  of  food  to  hunters  here,  and  Radisson 
must  have  noticed  the  walrus,  porpoise  and  seal 
floundering  about  in  the  bay  promising  another 
source  of  profit  to  the  Company.  North  of  Hen- 
rietta Cape,  Radisson  was  on  known  ground.  But- 
ton and  Fox  and  James  had  explored  this  coast, 
Port  Nelson  with  its  two  magnificent  harbors- 
Nelson  and  Hayes  River — taking  its  name  from 
Button's   seaman,   Nelson,   who  was  buried   here. 

126 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

Groseillers  wintered  on  the  bay  but  Radisson  came 
home  to  England  on  The  Prince  Rupert  with  Gillam 
and  passed  the  winter  in  London  as  advisor  to  the 
company.  This  year,  the  Company  held  its  meet- 
ings at  Prince  Rupert's  lodgings  in  Whitehall. 

In  the  summer  of  '71,  Radisson  was  again  on  the 
bay  cruising  as  before,  to  Moose,  and  Albany, 
and  Nelson  with  a  cargo  of  some  two  hundred  mus- 
kets, four  hundred  powderhorns  and  five  hundred 
hatchets  for  trade.  Though  Radisson  as  well  as 
Groseillers  spent  the  years  of  17  '^"  ^he  bay, 

there  was  no  mistaking  the  fact — r 
were  bringing  furs  to  Rupert  Riv 
isson  reported  conditions  when  ^ 
don  in  the  fall  of  '72,  and  he  linkea  inii.^. 
closely  to  the  interests  of  the  Company  by  marrying 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kirke. 

"It  is  ordered,"  read  the  minutes  of  the  Company, 
Oct.  23,  1673,  "that  The  Prince  Rupert  arriving 
at  Portsmouth,  Captain  Gillam  do  not  stire  from 
the  shippe  till  Mr.  Radisson  take  post  to  Lon- 
don with  the  report."  The  report  was  not  a  good 
one.  The  French  coming  overland  from  Canada 
were  intercepting  the  Indians  on  the  way  down  to 
the  bay.  The  Company  decided  to  appoint  another 
governor,  William  Lyddell,  for  the  west  coast,  and 
when  Radisson  went  back  to  the  bay  in  '74,  a  council 

127 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  held  to  consider  how  to  oppose  the  French. 
The  captains  of  the  ships  were  against  moving  west. 
Groseillers  and  Radisson  urged  Governor  Bayly  to 
build  new  forts  at  Moose  and  Albany  and  Nelson. 
Resentful  of  divided  authority,  Bayly  hung  between 
two  opinions,  but  at  length  consented  to  leave  Rupert 
River  for  the  summer  and  cruise  westward.  When 
he  came  back  to  Fort  Charles  in  August,  he  found 
it  occupied  by  an  emissary  from  New  France,  Father 
Albanel,  an  English  Jesuit,  with  a  passport  from 
Frontenac  recommending  him  to  the  English  Gov- 
ernor, and  with  personal  letters  for  the  two  French- 
men. 

Bayly's  rage  knew  no  bounds.  He  received  the 
priest  as  the  passports  from  a  friendly  nation  com- 
pelled him  to  do,  but  he  flared  out  in  open  accusa- 
tions against  Radisson  and  Groseillers  for  being  in 
collusion  with  rivals  to  the  Company's  trade.  A 
thousand  fictions  cling  round  this  part  of  Radisson's 
career.  It  is  said  that  the  two  Frenchmen  knocked 
down  and  were  knocked  down  by  the  English  Gov- 
ernor, that  spies  were  set  upon  thehi  to  dog  their 
steps  when  they  went  to  the  woods,  that  Bayly 
threatened  to  run  them  through,  and  that  the  two 
finally  escaped  through  the  forests  overland  back 
to  New  France  with  Albanel,  the  Jesuit. 

All  these  are  childish  fictions  directly  contradicted 
128 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 

by  the  facts  of  the  case  as  stated  in  the  official  min- 
utes of  the  Company.  No  doubt  the  little  fort  was  a 
tempest  in  a  teapot  till  the  Jesuit  departed,  but 
quietus  was  given  to  the  quarrels  by  the  arrival,  on 
September  17,  of  William  Lyddell  on  The  Prince 
Rupert,  governor-elect  for  the  west  coast.  Radisson 
decided  to  go  home  to  England  and  lay  the  whole 
case  before  the  Company.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  he  was  desperately  dissatisfied  with  his 
status  among  the  Adventurers.  He  had  found  the 
territory.  He  had  founded  the  Company.  He  had 
given  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  its  advancement, 
and  they  had  not  even  credited  him  as  a  shareholder. 
When  he  returned  to  England,  they  accepted  proof 
of  his  loyalty,  asking  only  that  he  take  oath  of  fidelity, 
but  financially,  his  case  had  already  been  prejudged. 
He  was  not  to  be  a  partner.  At  a  meeting  in  June, 
it  was  ordered  that  he  be  allowed  ;^ioo  a  year  for 
his  services.  That  is,  he  was  to  be  their  servant. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  already  in  debt  for  living 
expenses.  In  his  pocket  were  the  letters  Albanel 
had  brought  overland  to  the  bay  and  offers  direct 
from  Mons.  Colbert,  himself,  of  a  position  in  the 
French  navy,  payment  of  all  debts  and  a  gratuity  of 
some  £400  to  begin  life  anew  if  he  would  go  over  to 
Paris.  Six  weeks  from  the  time  he  had  left  the  bay, 
Radisson  quit  the  Company's  services  in  disgust.    It 

129 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  the  old  story  of  the  injustice  he  had  suffered  in 
Quebec — he,  the  creator  of  the  wealth,  was  to  have 
a  mere  pittance  from  the  monopolists.  Radisson 
could  not  induce  his  English  wife  to  go  with  him, 
but  he  sailed  for  France  at  the  end  of  October  in  1674. 
As  the  operations  of  the  Adventurers  were  now  to 
become  an  international  struggle  for  two  hundred 
years,  it  is  well  to  pause  from  the  narrative  of  stirring 
events  on  the  bay  to  take  a  glance  forward  on  the 
scope  and  influence  and  power  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  in  the  history  of  America. 

Notes  on  Chapter  VII. — For  authorities  on  this  chapter  see 
Chapters  VIII  and  IX.  To  those  famiUar  with  the  subject,  this 
chapter  will  clear  up  a  great  many  discrepancies.  In  the  life 
of  Radisson  in  Pathfinders  of  the  West,  it  was  necessary  to  state 
frankly  that  his  movements  could  not  be  traced  definitely  at  this 
period  both  as  to  locale  and  time.  The  facts  of  this  chapter 
are  taken  solely  from  the  official  Stock  Books,  Minute  Books, 
Sailing  Directions  and  Journals  of  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London. 
Extracts  from  these  minutes  will  be  found  after  Chapter  VIII 
and  IX.  One  point  in  Pathfinders  of  the  West,  all  authorities 
^  differ  as  to  the  time  when  Radisson  left  the  company,  Albanel's 
Journal  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  being  of  1672,  Gorst's  record  of 
the  quarrel  in  1674,  and  other  accounts  placing  the  date  as  late 
as  1676.  My  examinations  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  records  show 
that  the  rupture  occurred  in  London  in  October,  1674.  How, 
then,  is  Albanel's  Relation  1672?  The  passport  from  Fronte- 
nac,  which  Albanel  delivered  to  Bayly — now  on  record  in  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  papers — is  dated,  Quebec,  Oct.  7,  1673.  If 
the  passport  only  left  Quebec  in  October,  1673,  and  Albanel 
reached  the  bay  in  August,  1674 — there  is  only  one  conclusion: 
the  date  of  his  journal,  1672,  is  wrong  by  two  years.  One  can 
easily  understand  how  this  would  occur  in  a  journal  made  up 
of  scraps  of  writing  jotted  down  in  canoes,  in  tepees,  every- 
where and  anywhere,  and  then  passed  by  couriers  from  hand 
to  hand  till  it  reached  the  Cramoisy  printers  of  Paris. 

A  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  dated  Sept.  25,  1675,  re- 
lates:    "This   day   came   The  Shaftsbury  Pink   ffrom    Hudson 

130 


The  Adventures  of  the  First  Voyage 


Baye,  Capt.  Shopard,  ye  capt.  tiles  me  thay  found  a  franch 
Jesuit  thare  that  did  endeavor  to  convert  ye  Indians  &  persuad 
them  not  to  trade  with  ye  English,  for  wh.  reason  they  have 
brought  him  away  with  them.  .  .  Capt.  Gillam  we  expect 
to-morrow." 

Later:     "This  day  is  arrived  Capt.  Gillam.    I  was  on  board  ' 
of  him  and  he  tells  me  they  were  forced  to  winter  there  and 
spend  all  their  Provisions.     They  have  left  only  four  men  to 
keep  possession  of  the  place.     I  see  the  French  Jesuit  is  a  little 
ould  man." 


l.^I 


CHAPTER  VIII 
1670-1870 

"gentlemen  adventurers  of  ENGLAND" — LORDS 
OF  THE  OUTER  MARCHES — TWO  CENTURIES  OF 
COMPANY  RULE — SECRET  OATHS — THE  USE  OF 
WHISKEY  —  THE  MATRIMONIAL  OFFICES  —  THE 
PART  THE  COMPANY  PLAYED  IN  THE  GAME  OF 
INTERNATIONAL  JUGGLING — HOW  TRADE  AND 
VOYAGES  WERE  CONDUCTED 

JUST  where  the  world's  traffic  converges  to  that 
roaring  maelstrom  in  front  of  the  Royal  Ex- 
change, London — on  Lime  Street,  off  Leaden- 
hall  Street — stands  an  unpretentious  gray  stone 
building,  the  home  of  a  power  that  has  held  unbroken 
sway  over  the  wilds  of  America  for  two-and-a-half 
centuries.  It  is  the  last  of  those  old  companies 
granted  to  royal  favorites  of  European  courts  for 
the  partitioning  of  America. 

To  be  sure,  when  Charles  II  signed  away  sole 
rights  of  trade  and  possession  to  all  countries  border- 
ing on  the  passage  supposed  to  lead  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  South  Sea,  he  had  not  the  faintest  notion  that 
he  was  giving  to  "the  Gentlemen  Adventurers  oj  Eng- 

132 


^^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England^' 

land  Trading  on  Hudson's  Bay^''  three-quarters  of 
a  new  continent.  Prince  Rupert,  Albermarle,  Shafts- 
bury,  the  Carteretts  and  half  a  dozen  others  had 
helped  him  back  to  his  throne,  and  with  a  Stuart's 
good-natured  belief  that  the  world  was  made  for  the 
king's  pleasure,  he  promptly  proceeded  to  carve  up 
his  possessions  for  his  friends.  Only  one  limitation 
was  specified  in  the  charter  of  1670 — the  lands  must 
be  those  not  already  claimed  by  any  Christian  power. 
But  Adventurers  on  booty  bound  would  sail  over 
the  edge  of  the  earth  if  it  were  flat,  and  when  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  found,  instead  of  a  passage 
to  the  fabulous  South  Sea,  a  continental  watershed 
whence  mighty  rivers  rolled  north,  east,  south,  over 
vaster  lands  than  those  island  Adventurers  had  ever 
dreamed — was  it  to  turn  back  because  these  coun- 
tries didn't  precisely  border  on  Hudson's  Bay?  The 
Company  had  been  chartered  as  Lords  of  the  Outer 
Marches,  and  what  were  Outer  Marches  for,  but 
to  march  forward?  For  a  hundred  years,  the  world 
heard  very  little  of  these  wilderness  Adventurers 
except  that  they  were  fighting  for  dear  life  against 
the  French  raiders,  but  when  Canada  passed  to 
the  English,  Hudson's  Bay  canoes  were  threading 
the  labyrinthine  waterways  of  lake  and  swamp  and 
river  up  the  Saskatchewan,  down  the  Athabasca, 
over  the  mountain  passes  to  the  Columbia.   Hudson's 

133 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Bay  fur  brigades  were  sweeping  up  the  Ottawa 
to  Abbittibbi,  to  the  Assiniboine,  to  MacKenzie 
River,  to  the  Arctic  Circle.  Hudson's  Bay  buffalo 
runners  hunted  the  plains  from  the  Red  River  to 
the  Missouri.  Hudson's  Bay  Rocky  Mountain 
brigades — one,  two,  three  hundred  horsemen,  fol- 
lowed by  a  ragged  rabble  of  Indian  retainers — 
yearly  scoured  every  valley  between  Alaska  and 
Mexico  in  regular  platoons,  so  much  territory  as- 
signed to  each  leader — Oregon  to  McLoughlin,  the 
Snake  Country  to  Ogden,  the  Umpqua  to  Black  or 
McLeod,  the  Buffalo  Country  to  Ross  or  some  other, 
with  instructions  not  to  leave  a  beaver  alive  on  the 
trail  wherever  there  were  rival  American  traders. 
Hudson's  Bay  vessels  coasted  from  the  Columbia  to 
Alaska.  The  Adventurers  could  not  dislodge  Baran- 
off  from  Sitka,  but  they  explored  the  Yukon  and  the 
Pelly,  and  the  official  books  show  record  of  a  farm 
where  San  Francisco  now  stands.  Beginning  with 
a  score  of  men,  the  Company  to-day  numbers  as 
many  servants  as  the  volunteer  army  of  Canada. 
Railroads  to  Eastern  ports  now  do  the  work  of  the 
four  or  five  armed  frigates  that  used  yearly  to  come 
for  the  furs,  but  two  company  ships  still  carry  pro- 
visions through  the  ice  floes  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and 
on  every  navigable  river  of  the  inland  North,  floats 
the  flag  of  the  Company's  steamers.    The  brigades 

134 


^^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" 

of  fur  canoes  can  yet  be  seen  at  remote  posts  like 
Abbittibbi;  and  the  dog  trains  still  tinkle  across  the 
white  wastes  bringing  down  the  mid-winter  furs 
from  the  North. 

The  old  Company  has  the  unique  distinction  of 
being  the  only  instance  of  feudalism  transplanted 
from  Europe  to  America,  which  has  flourished  in 
the  new  soil.  Other  royal  companies  of  Virginia, 
of  Maryland,  of  Quebec,  Ixcame  part  of  the  new 
democracy.  Only  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  re- 
mains. The  charter  which  by  "the  Grace  of  God" 
and  the  stroke  of  a  pen  gave  away  three-quarters  of 
America — was,  itself,  pure  feudalism.  Oaths  of 
secrecy,  implicit  obedience  of  every  servant  to  the 
man  immediately  above  him — the  canoemen  to  the 
steersman,  the  trader  to  the  chief  factor,  the  chief 
factor  to  the  governor,  the  governor  to  the  king — 
dependence  of  the  Company  on  the  favor  of  the  royal 
will — all  these  were  pure  feudalism.  Prince  Rupert 
was  the  first  governor.  The  Duke  of  York,  after- 
wards King  James,  was  second.  Marllx)rough,  the 
great  general,  came  third;  and  Lord  Strathcona,  the 
present  governor,  as  High  Commissioner  for  Canada, 
stands  in  the  relation  of  ambassador  from  the  colony 
to  the  mother  country.  Always  the  Company  has 
been  under  the  favor  of  the  court. 

135 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Formerly,  every  shareholder  had  to  make  solemn 
oath:  *'/  doe  swear e  to  bee  True  6^  jaithjull  to  ye 
GovernW  df  Compy  oj  Adventurers  of  England 
Trading  into  Hudson^s  Bay  6r=  to  my  poiver  will 
support  and  maintain  the  said  comply  6^  the  privi- 
leges oj  ye  same;  all  bye  laws  and  orders  not  repeated 
which  have  been  or  shall  be  made  by  ye  said  Governor 
6^  Company  I  will  to  my  best  knowledge  truly  obserue 
and  keepe:  ye  secrets  of  ye  said  company,  which  shall 
be  given  me  in  cfiarge  to  conceale,  I  will  not  disclose; 
and  during  the  joint  stock  of  ye  said  comply  I  will  not 
directly  nor  huiirectly  trade  to  ye  limitts  of  ye  said 
company s  charter  without  leave  of  the  Governor,  the 
Deputy  Governor  and  committee,  So  help  me  God." 

A  similar  oath  was  required  from  the  governor. 
Once  a  year,  usually  in  November,  the  shareholders 
met  in  a  general  session  called  the  General  Court, 
to  elect  officers — a  governor,  a  deputy  governor,  and 
a  committee  which  was  to  transact  details  of  busi- 
ness as  occasion  required.  Each  officer  was  re- 
quired to  take  oath  of  secrecy  and  fidelity.  This 
committee,  it  was,  that  appointed  the  captains  to 
the  vessels,  the  men  of  the  crews,  the  local  governors 
for  the  fur  posts  on  the  bay,  and  the  chief  traders, 
who  were  to  go  inland  to  barter.  From  all  of  these, 
oaths  and  bonds  of  fidelity  were  required.  He,  who 
violated  his  oath,  was  liable  to  forfeiture  of  wages 

136 


*^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England** 

and  stock  in  the  Company.  In  all  the  minute  lxx)ks 
for  two-and-a-half  centuries,  both  of  the  committee 
and  the  General  Court  which  I  examined,  there 
were  records  of  only  one  director  dismissed  for 
breaking  his  oath,  and  two  captains  discharged  for 
illicit  trade.  Compared  to  the  cut-throat  methods 
of  modem  business,  whose  promise  is  not  worth 
the  breath  that  utters  it  and  whose  perjuries  having 
become  so  common,  people  have  ceased  to  blush,  the 
old,  slow-going  Company  has  no  need  to  be  ashamed. 
Each  officer  in  his  own  sphere  was  as  despotic  as 
a  czar,  but  the  despotism  was  founded  on  good  will. 
When  my  Lord  Preston  did  the  Company  a  good  turn 
by  sending  Radisson  back  from  Paris  to  London, 
the  committee  of  1684  orders  the  warehouse  keeper 
"/(?  deliver  the  furrier  as  many  black  beaver  skins  as 
will  make  my  lord  a  fine  covering  for  his  bedd" — not 
a  bribe  before  the  good  turn,  but  a  token  of  good  will 
afterwards.  When  Mr.  Randolph  of  New  England 
arrests  Ben  Gillam  for  poaching  on  the  Company's 
preserve  up  on  Hudson  Bay,  the  committee  orders 
a  piece  of  plate  to  the  value  of  £10  for  Mr.  Randolph. 
When  King  Charles  and  the  Duke  of  York  interceded 
with  France  to  forbid  interlopers,  "two  pair  of  beaver 
stockings  are  ordered  for  the  King  and  the  Duke  of 
York;"  and  the  committee  of  April,  1684,  instructs 
'^Sir  James  Hayes  do  attend  His  Royal  Highness 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

at  Windsor  and  present  him  his  dividend  in  gold  in 
a  jaire  embroidered  purse. ^'  For  whipping  "those 
vermin,  those  enemies  of  all  mankind,  the  French," 
the  Right  Honorable  Earl  John  Churchill  (Marl- 
borough) is  presented  with  a  cat-skin  counterpane; 

The  General  Court  and  weekly  committee  meet- 
ings were  held  at  the  very  high  altars  of  feudalism — 
in  the  White  Tower  built  by  William  the  Conqueror, 
or  at  Whitehall  where  lived  the  Stuarts,  or  at  the 
Jerusalem  Coffee  House,  where  scions  of  nobility 
met  the  money  lenders  and  where  the  Company 
seems  to  have  arranged  advances  on  the  subscribed 
stock  to  outfit  each  year's  ships.  Often,  the  com- 
mittee meetings  wound  up  with  orders  for  the  secre- 
tary "to  bespeake  a  cask  of  canary  for  ye  governor," 
or  "a  hogshead  of  claret  for  ye  captains  sailing  from 
Gravesend,"  to  whom  "ye  committee  wished  a  God 
speed,  a  good  wind  and  a  faire  saile." 

When  the  Stuart  line  gave  place  to  a  new  regime, 
the  Company  hastened  to  King  William  at  Kensing- 
ton, and  as  the  minutes  of  Oct.  i,  1690,  record — 
"having  the  Honour  to  be  introduced  into  His 
Majesty  s  clossett  .  .  .  the  Deputy-Governor  Sir 
Edward  Dering  delivered  himself  in  these  zuords. 

.  .  .  May  it  Please  your  Majesty — Your  Maj- 
esty s  most  loyal  and  dutifidl  subjects,  the  Hudson'' s 
Bay  Company  begg  leave  most  humbly  to  congratu- 

138 


^* Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England'' 

late  your  Majesty's  Happy  Returne  home  with  han- 
ours  and  safety.  And  wee  doo  daily  pray  to  Heaven 
{that  Hath  God  wonderjully  preserved  your  Royall 
person)  that  in  all  your  undertakings,  your  Majesty 
may  bee  as  victorious  as  Caesar,  as  Beloved  as  Titus, 
and  {after  all)  have  the  glorious  long  reign  and  peace- 
full  end  of  Augustus.  .  .  .  We  doo  desire  also 
most  humbly  to  present  to  your  Majesty  a  dividend  of 
three  hundred  guineas  upon  three  hundred  pounds 
stock  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  now  Rightfully 
devolved  to  your  Majesty.  And  altho  we  have  been 
the  greatest  sufferers  of  any  Company,  from  these  com- 
mon enemies  off  all  mankind,  the  French,  yet  when 
your  Majesty's  just  arms  shall  have  given  repose  to 
all  Christendom,  wee  also  shall  enjoy  our  share  of 
those  great  Bencfitts  and  doo  not  doubt  but  to  appeare 
often  with  this  golden  fruit  in  our  hands — And  the 
Deputy-Goi>er7ior  upon  his  knees  humbly  presented 
to  his  Majesty,  the  purse  of  gold  .  .  .  and  then 
the  Deputy-Governor  and  all  the  rest  liad  the  honour 
to  kiss  His  Majesty's  Hand." 

Holding  its  privilege  by  virtue  of  royal  favor,  the 
Company  was  expected  to  advance  British  dominion 
abroad  and  resist  all  enemies.  For  exactly  one 
hundred  years  (1682-1782)  it  fought  the  ground  inch 
by  inch  against  the  French.    From  1698,  agents  were 

139 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

kept  in  Russia  and  Holland  and  Germany  to  watch 
the  fur  markets  there,  and  when  the  question  of 
designating  the  bounds  between  Russian  Alaska 
and  British  Columbia,  came  up  between  England 
and  Russia,  it  was  on  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
that  the  British  Government  relied  for  the  defense 
of  its  case.  Similarly,  when  the  United  States  took 
over  Louisiana,  the  British  Government  called  on 
the  Company  in  1807  to  state  what  the  limits  ought 
to  be  between  Louisiana  and  British  America.  But 
perhaps  the  most  notoriously  absurd  part  the  Com- 
pany ever  played  internationally  was  in  connection 
with  what  is  known  as  "  the  Oregon  question."  The 
bad  feeling  over  that  imbroglio  need  not  be  recalled. 
The  modem  Washington  and  Oregon — broadly 
speaking,  regions  of  greater  wealth  than  France — 
were  at  stake.  The  astonishing  thing,  the  untold 
inside  history  of  the  whole  episode  was  that  after 
insisting  on  joint  occupancy  for  years  and  refusing 
to  give  up  her  claims,  England  suddenly  kow-towed 
fiat  without  rhyme  or  reason.  The  friendship  of 
the  Company's  chief  factor,  McLoughlin,  for  the  in- 
coming American  settlers  of  Oregon,  has  usually 
been  given  as  the  explanation.  Some  truth  there 
may  be  in  this,  for  the  settlers'  tented  wagon  was 
always  the  herald  of  the  hunter's  end,  but  the  real 
reason  is  good  enough  to  be  registered  as  melodrama 

140 


*^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" 

to  the  everlasting  glory  of  a  martinet  officer's  igno- 
rance. Aberdeen  was  the  British  minister  who  had 
the  matter  in  hand.  His  brother,  Captain  Gordon 
in  the  Pacific  Squadron  was  ordered  to  take  a  look 
over  the  disputed  territory.  In  vain  the  fur  traders 
of  Oregon  and  Vancouver  Island  spread  the  choicest 
game  on  his  table.  He  could  not  have  his  English 
bath.  He  could  not  have  the  comforts  of  his  Eng- 
lish bed.  He  had  bad  luck  deerstalking  and  worse 
luck  fishing.  Asked  if  he  did  not  think  the  moun- 
tains magnificent,  his  response  was  that  he  would 
not  give  the  bleakest  hill  in  Scotland  for  all  these 
mountains  in  a  heap.  Meanwhile,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  was  wasting  candle  light  in  London 
preparing  the  British  case  for  the  retention  of  Oregon. 
Matters  hung  fire.  Should  it  be  joint  occupancy, 
"  fifty-four- forty  or  fight,"  or  compromise?  Aber- 
deen's brother  on  leave  home  was  called  in. 

"Oregon?      Oregon?"      Yes,    Gordon    remem- 
bered Oregon.     Been  there  fishing  last  year,  and 

"the  fish  wouldn't  rise  to  the  fly  worth  a  d ! 

Let  the  old  country  go!"  This,  in  a  country  where 
fish  might  be  scooped  out  in  tubfuls  without  either 
fly  or  line! 

The  committeemen  meeting  to  transact  the  details 
of  business  were,  of  course,  paid  a  small  amount, 

141 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

but  coming  together  in  the  court,  itself,  or  in  the 
jolly  chambers  of  a  gay  gallant  like  Prince  Rupert, 
or  at  the  Three  Tunns,  or  at  the  Golden  Anchor, 
great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  calling  the  gen- 
tlemen to  order,  and  the  law  was  early  passed,  "yt 
whensoever  the  committee  shall  he  summoned,  yt  one 
hour  after  ye  Deputy-Governor  turns  up  ye  glass, 
whosoever  does  not  appear  before  the  glass  runs  out, 
shall  lose  his  committee  money.''''  The  "glass,"  it 
may  be  explained,  was  the  hourglass,  not  the  one 
for  the  "cask  of  canary."  Later  on,  fines  were  im- 
posed to  be  put  in  the  Poor  Box,  which  was  estab- 
lished as  the  minutes  explain,  "a  token  of  gratitude 
for  God's  great  blessing  to  the  company,"  the  pro- 
ceeds to  go  to  old  pensioners,  to  those  wounded  in 
service,  or  to  wives  and  children  of  the  dead. 

The  great  events  of  the  year  to  the  committee  were 
the  dispatching  of  the  boats,  the  home-coming  of  the 
cargoes  and  the  public  sales  of  the  furs.  Between 
these  events,  long  recesses  were  taken  without  any 
evidence  that  the  Company  existed  but  a  quiet  dis- 
tribution of  dividends,  or  a  courier  spurring  post- 
haste from  Southhampton  with  word  that  one  of 
the  Company's  ships  had  been  captured  by  the 
French,  the  Company's  cargo  sold,  the  Company's 
ship  sunk,  the  Company's  servants  left  rotting  in 
some  dungeon  waiting  for  ransom.     From  January 

142 


*^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  oj  England'* 

to  April,  all  was  bustle  preparing  the  ships,  two  in 
the  first  years,  later  three  and  four  and  five  armed 
frigates,  to  sail  to  the  bay.  Only  good  ice-goers 
were  chosen,  built  of  staunchest  oak  or  iron  wood, 
high  and  narrow  at  the  prow  to  ride  the  ice  and  cut 
the  floes  by  sheer  weight.  Then  captains  and  crews 
were  hired,  some  captains  sailing  for  the  Company 
as  long  as  forty  years.  Goods  for  trade  were  stowed 
in  the  hold,  traps,  powder,  guns,  hatchets,  blankets, 
beads,  rope;  and  the  committee  orders  the  secretary 
^'to  bespeake  a  good  rat  catcher  to  kill  the  vermin  that 
injure  our  beaver, ^^  though  whether  this  member  of 
the  crew  was  biped  or  quadruped  does  not  appear. 
A  surgeon  accompanied  each  ship.  The  secret  sig- 
nals left  in  duplicate  with  the  posts  on  the  bay  the 
year  before  were  then  given  to  the  captains,  for  if 
any  ship  approached  the  bay  without  these  signals 
the  forts  had  orders  to  fire  their  cannon  at  the  in- 
truder, cut  the  harbor  buoys,  put  out  all  lights  and 
do  all  they  could  to  cause  the  interlopers'  wreck.  If 
taken  by  pirates,  all  signals  were  to  be  thrown  over- 
board, and  the  captains  were  secretly  instructed  how 
high  a  ransom  they  might  in  the  name  of  the  Company 
offer  their  captors.  On  the  day  of  sailing,  usually 
in  early  June,  the  Committee  went  down  on  horse- 
back to  Gravcsend.  Lockers  were  searched  for 
goods  that  might  be  hidden  for  clandestine  trade, 

143 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

for  independent  trade,  even  to  the  extent  of  one 
muskrat,  the  Company  would  no  more  tolerate  than 
diamond  miners  will  allow  a  private  deal  in  their 
mine.  These  searchers  examined  the  ships  for 
hidden  furs  when  she  came  home,  just  as  rigorously  as 
the  customs  officers  examine  modern  baggage  on 
any  Atlantic  liner.  The  same  system  of  search  was 
exercised  among  the  workers  on  the  furs  of  the  Com- 
pany's warehouses,  the  men  being  examined  when 
they  entered  in  the  morning,  and  when  they  left  at 
night.  For  this,  the  necessity  was  and  is  yet  plain. 
Rare  silver  fox  skins  have  been  sold  at  auction  for 
£200,  ,-^300,  ;^40o,  even  higher  for  a  fancy  skin. 
Half  a  dozen  such  could  be  concealed  in  a  winter 
overcoat.  That  the  searchers  could  no  more  prevent 
clandestine  trade  than  the  customs  can  smuggling — 
goes  without  saying.  Illicit  trade  was  the  pest  of 
the  committeeman's  life.  Captains  and  crews,  traders 
and  factors  and  directors  were  alike  dismissed  and 
prosecuted  for  it.  The  Company  were  finally  driven 
to  demanding  the  surrender  of  even  personal  cloth- 
ing, fur  coats,  mits,  caps,  from  returning  servants. 
On  examination,  this  was  always  restored. 

The  search  over,  w^ages  were  paid  to  the  seamen 
with  an  extra  half-crown  for  good  luck.  The  com- 
mittee then  shook  hands  with  the  crew.  A  parting 
cheer — and  the  boats  would  be  gone  for  six  months, 

144 


*' Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" 

perhaps  forever,  for  wrecks  were  frequent,  so  fre- 
quent that  they  are  a  story  of  heroism  and  hardship 
by  themselves.  Nor  have  the  inventions  of  modern 
science  rendered  the  dangers  of  the  ice  floes  less. 
There  are  fewer  Hudson's  Bay  Company  ships  among 
the  floes  now  than  in  the  middle  period  of  its  exis- 
tence, but  half  a  dozen  terrible  wrecks  mark  its  latter 
history,  one  but  a  few  years  ago,  when  a  $300,000 
cargo  went  to  the  bottom;  the  captain  instead  of 
being  dismissed  was  presented  by  Lloyds  with  gold 
plate  for  preventing  another  wreck  in  a  similar 
jam  the  next  year.  Pirates,  were,  of  course,  keener 
to  waylay  the  ships  home-bound  with  furs  than  out- 
going, but  armed  convoys  were  usually  granted  by 
the  Government  at  least  as  far  as  the  west  Irish  coast. 

One  of  the  quaintest  customs  that  I  found  in  the 
minute  books  was  regarding  the  home-coming  ships. 
The  money,  that  had  accrued  from  sales  during  the 
ships'  absence,  was  kept  in  an  iron  box  in  the  ware- 
house on  Fenchurch  Street.  It  ranged  in  amount 
from  ;;^2,ooo  to  ;£i  i  ,000.  To  this,  only  the  governor 
and  deputy-governor  had  the  keys.  Banking  in  the 
modern  sense  of  the  word  was  not  begun  till  1735. 
When  the  ships  came  in,  the  strong  box  was  hauled 
forth  and  the  crews  paid. 

After  the  coming  of  the  cargoes  the  sales  of  the 
furs  were  held  in  December,  or  March,  by  public 

145 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

auction  if  possible,  but  in  years  when  war  demoral- 
ized trade,  by  private  contract.  This  was  the  cli- 
max of  the  year  to  the  fur  trader.  Even  during  the 
century  when  the  French  raiders  swept  the  bay,  an 
average  of  ten  thousand  beaver  a  year  was  brought 
home.  Later,  otter  and  mink  and  marten  and 
ermine  became  valuable.  These,  the  common  furs, 
whalebone,  ivory,  elks'  hoofs  and  whale  blubber  made 
up  the  lists  of  the  winter  sales.  Before  the  days  of 
newspapers,  the  lists  were  posted  in  the  Royal  Ex- 
change and  sales  held  "by  candle"  in  lieu  of  auc- 
tioneer's hammer — a  tiny  candle  being  lighted,  pins 
stuck  in  at  intervals  along  the  shaft,  and  bids  shouted 
till  the  light  burned  out.  One  can  guess  with  what 
critical  caress  the  fur  fanciers  ran  their  hands  over 
the  soft  nap  of  the  silver  fox,  blowing  open  the  fur 
to  examine  the  depth  and  find  whether  the  pelt,  had 
been  damaged  in  the  skinning.  Half  a  dozen  of 
these  rare  skins  from  the  fur  world  meant  more  than 
a  cargo  of  beaver.  What  was  it  anyway,  this  crea- 
ture rare  as  twentieth  century  radium,  that  was 
neither  blue  fox  nor  gray,  neither  cross  nor  black? 
Was  it  the  black  fox  changing  his  winter  coat  for 
summer  dress  just  caught  at  the  moment  by  the 
trapper,  or  the  same  fellow  changing  his  summer 
pelt  from  silver  to  black  for  winter?  Was  it  a  turn- 
ing of  the  black  hairs  to  silver  from  old*  age,  trapped 

146 


*^ Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" 

luckily  just  before  old  age  had  robbed  the  fur  of 
its  gloss?  Was  it  senility  or  debility  or  a  splendid 
freak  in  the  animal  world  like  a  Newton  or  a  Shake- 
speare in  the  human  race?  Of  all  the  scientists  from 
Royal  Society  and  hall  of  learning,  who  came  to 
gossip  over  the  sales  at  the  coffee  houses,  not  one 
could  explain  the  silver  fox.  Or  was  the  soul  of  the 
fur  trader,  like  the  motto  painted  on  his  coat  of  arms 
by  John  Pinto  for  thirty  shillings,  in  December, 
1679 — Pro  Pelle  Culem — not  above  the  value  of  a 
beaver  skin? 

Terse  business  methods  of  to-day,  where  the  sales 
are  advertised  in  a  newspaper  and  afterward  held 
apart  from  the  goods,  have  robbed  them  of  their  old- 
time  glamor,  for  the  sale  was  to  the  city  merchant 
what  the  circus  is  to  the  country  boy,  the  event  of  the 
year.  By  the  committee  of  Nov.  8,  1680,  ^'Sir 
James  Hayes  is  desired  to  choose  3  doz.  bottles  of  sack 
&"  3  doz.  of  claret  to  be  given  the  buyers  at  the  sale  &= 
a  dinner  to  be  spoke  at  the  Stellyarde,  Mr.  Stone  to 
bespeake  a  good  dish  oj  fish,  a  Hone  oj  veale,  2  pullets 
and  4  ducks. ^^ 

In  early  days  when  the  Company  had  the  field  to 
itself,  and  sent  out  only  a  score  or  two  of  men  in  two 
small  ships,  £2o,cxx)  worth  of  lx?aver  were  often  sold 
in  a  year,  sc  that  after  paying  back  money  advanced 
for  outfit  and    wages,  the  Company  was  able  to 

147 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

declare  a  dividend  of  50  per  cent,  on  stock  that  had 
been  twice  trebled.  Then  came  the  years  of  the 
conflict  with  France — causing  a  loss  in  forts  and  furs 
of  £100,543.  Though  small  cargoes  of  beaver  were 
still  brought  home,  returns  were  swamped  in  the 
expenses  of  the  fight.  No  dividends  were  paid  for 
twenty  years.  The  capital  stock  was  all  out  as 
security  for  loans,  and  the  private  fortunes  of  di- 
rectors pledged  to  keep  the  tradesmen  clamoring  for 
payment  of  outfits  quiet.  Directors  borrowed  money 
on  their  own  names  for  the  payment  of  the  crews, 
and  the  officers  of  the  Company,  governors,  chief 
factors  and  captains  were  paid  in  stock.  Then 
came  the  peace  of  17 13  and  a  century's  prosperity, 
when  sales  jumped  from  £20,000  to  £30,000  and 
£70,000  a  year.  In  five  years  all  debts  were  paid, 
but  the  Company  had  learned  a  lesson.  To  hold 
its  ground,  it  must  strengthen  grip.  Instead  of  two 
small  sloops,  four  and  five  armed  frigates  were  sent 
out  with  crews  of  thirty  and  forty  and  sixty  men. 
Eight  men  used  to  be  deemed  sufficient  to  winter  at 
a  fur  post.  Thirty  and  forty  and  sixty  were  now 
kept  at  each  post,  the  number  of  posts  increased, 
some  of  them  built  and  manned  like  beleaguered 
fortresses,  and  that  forward  march  begun  across 
America  which  only  ended  on  the  borders  of  the 
Pacific  and  the  confines  of  Mexico.     Though  the 

148 


** Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England'* 

returns  were  now  so  large  from  the  yearly  cargo, 
dividends  never  went  higher  than  20  per  cent.,  fell  as 
low  as  six,  and  hardly  averaged  above  eight. 

Then  came  the  next  great  stniggle  of  the  Company 
for  its  life — against  the  North- West  Company  in 
Canada  and  the  American  traders  in  the  Western 
States.  Sales  fell  as  low  as  ;^2,ooo.  Oddly  enough 
to-day,  with  its  monopoly  of  exclusive  trade  long 
since  surrendered  to  the  Canadian  Government,  its 
charter  gone,  free  traders  at  liberty  to  come  or  go, 
and  populous  cities  spread  over  two  thirds  of  its  old 
stamping  ground,  the  sales  of  the  Company  yield 
as  high  returns  as  in  its  palmiest  days. 

The  reason  is  this: 

It  was  only  in  regions  where  there  were  rival 
traders,  or  where  colonization  was  bound  to  come,  as 
in  the  Western  States,  that  the  fur  brigades  waged  a 
war  of  extermination  against  the  beaver.  Else- 
where, north  of  the  Saskatchewan  and  Athabasca, 
where  cold  must  forever  bar  out  the  settler  and  leave 
the  hunter  in  undisturbed  possession  of  his  game 
preserve,  the  Company  acted  as  a  nursery  for  the  fur- 
bearing  animals.  Indians  were  taught  not  to  kill 
in  .summer,  not  to  kill  the  young,  to  leave  the  mother 
untouched.  Talcs  are  told — and  the  talcs  are  per- 
fectly true — of  Hudson's  Bay  fur  traders  taking  a 
particularly  long-barreled  old  musket  standing  it  on 

149 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  ground  and  ordering  the  poor,  deluded  Indian 
to  pile  furs  to  the  top  before  he  could  have  the  gun; 
but  to  make  these  tales  entirely  true  it  should  be 
added  that  the  furs  were  muskrat  and  rabbit  killed 
out  of  season  not  worth  a  penny  apiece  in  the  Lon- 
don market  and  only  taken  to  keep  the  Indians 
going  till  a  year  of  good  hunting  came.  When  ar- 
raigned before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  1857,  charged  with  putting  an  advance  of 
50  per  cent,  on  all  goods  traded  to  the  Indians,  and 
with  paying  ridiculously  small  prices  for  the  rare 
skins  in  proportion  to  what  they  had  paid  for  the 
poor,  the  Company  frankly  acknowledged  both  facts, 
but  it  was  proved  that  33  per  cent,  of  the  advance 
represented  expenses  of  carriage  to  the  interior.  As 
for  the  other  charge,  the  Company  contended  that 
it  was  wiser  to  take  many  skins  that  were  absolutely 
worthless  and  buy  the  valuable  pelts  at  a  moderate 
price;  otherwise,  the  Indians  would  die  from  want 
in  bad  years,  and  in  good  years  kill  off  the  entire 
supply  of  the  rare  fur-bearing  animals.  Since  the 
surrender  of  the  monopoly,  countless  rival  traders 
have  invaded  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Company. 
None  has  yet  been  able  to  wean  the  Indians  away 
from  the  old  Company.  It  is  a  question  if  the 
world  shows  another  example  of  such  a  long-lived 
feudalism. 

150 


** Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England'* 

Though  a  Hudson's  Bay  servant  could  not  take 
as  much  as  one  beaver  skin  for  himself,  every  man 
afield  had  as  keen  an  interest  in  the  total  returns  as 
the  shareholders  in  London.  This  was  owing  to  the 
bounty  system.  To  encourage  the  servants  and 
prevent  temptations  to  dishonesty,  the  Company  paid 
bounty  on  every  score  (20)  of  made  beaver  to  cap- 
tains, factors,  traders,  and  trappers,  in  amounts 
ranging  from  three  shillings  to  sixpence  a  score. 
Latterly,  this  system  has  given  place  to  larger  salaries 
and  direct  shareholding  on  the  part  of  the  servants, 
who  rise  in  the  service. 

A  change  has  also  taken  place  in  methods  of 
barter.  Up  to  1820,  beaver  was  literally  coin  of  the 
realm.  Mink,  marten,  ermine,  silver  fox,  all  were 
computed  as  worth  so  much  or  so  many  fractions  of 
beaver.  A  roll  of  tobacco,  a  pound  of  tea,  a  yard 
of  blazing-red  flannel,  a  powderhom,  a  hatchet,  all 
were  measured  and  priced  as  worth  so  many  beaver. 
This  was  the  Indian's  coinage,  but  this,  too,  has  given 
way  to  modem  methods,  though  the  old  system  may 
perhaps  be  traced  among  the  far  Northern  tribes. 
The  account  system  was  now  used,  so  much  being 
consigned  to  each  factor,  for  which  he  was  respon- 
sible. The  trader,  in  turn,  advanced  the  Indian 
whatever  he  needed  for  a  yearly  outfit,  charging  it 
against  his  name.    This  was  repaid  by  the  year's 

151 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

hunt.  If  the  hunt  fell  short  of  the  amount,  the 
Indians  stood  in  debt  to  the  Company.  This  did 
not  in  the  least  prevent  another  advance  for  the 
next  year.  If  the  hunt  exceeded  the  debt,  the  Indian 
might  draw  either  cash  or  goods  to  the  full  amount 
or  let  the  Company  stand  in  his  debt,  receiving  coins 
made  from  the  lead  of  melted  tea  chests  with  i,  2,  3 
or  4  B — beaver — stamped  in  the  lead,  and  the  mystic 
letters  N.  B.,  A.  R.,  Y.  F.,  E.  M.,  C.  R.,  H.  H.,  or 
some  other,  meaning  New  Brunswick  House,  Albany 
River,  York  Fort,  East  Main,  Churchill  River, 
Henley  House — names  of  the  Company's  posts  on 
or  near  the  bay.  And  these  coins  have  in  turn  been 
supplanted  by  modem  money. 

One  hears  much  of  the  Indians'  slavery  to  the 
Company  owing  to  the  debts  for  these  advances,  but 
any  one  who  knows  the  Indians'  infinite  capacity 
for  lounging  in  idleness  round  the  fort  as  long  as  food 
lasts,  must  realize  that  the  Company  had  as  much 
trouble  exacting  the  debt  as  the  Indian  could  pos- 
sibly have  in  paying  it. 

A  more  serious  charge  used  to  be  leveled  against 
the  fur  traders — the  wholesale  use  of  liquor  by  which 
an  Indian  could  be  made  to  give  away  his  furs  or 
sell  his  soul.  Without  a  doubt,  where  opposition 
traders  were  encountered — ^Americans  west  of  the 
Mississippi,    Nor'Westers    on    the    Saskatchewan, 

152 


*' Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England''^ 

French  south  of  the  bay,  Russians  in  Alaska — Hquor 
and  laudanum,  bludgeon  and  bribe  were  plied  with- 
out stint.  Those  days  are  long  past.  For  his  safety's 
sake,  the  fur  trader  had  to  relinquish  the  use  of  liquor, 
and  for  at  least  a  century  the  strictest  rules  have  pro- 
hibited it  in  trade,  the  old  Russian  company  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  binding  each  other  not  to  permit 
it.  And  I  have  heard  traders  say  that  when  trouble 
arose  at  the  forts  the  first  thing  done  by  the  Company 
was  to  split  open  the  kegs  in  the  fort  and  run  all 
liquor  on  the  ground. 

The  charge,  however,  is  a  serious  one  against  the 
Company's  past,  and  I  searched  the  minutes  for  the 
exact  records  on  the  worst  year.  In  1708,  conflict 
was  at  its  height  against  the  French.  The  highest 
record  of  liquor  sent  out  for  two  hundred  servants 
was  one  thousand  gallons — an  average  of  five  gallons 
a  trader  for  the  year,  or  less  than  two  quarts  a  month. 
In  1770,  before  the  fight  had  begun  with  the  Nor'- 
Westers,  the  Company  was  sending  out  two  hundred 
and  fifty  gallons  a  year  for  three  hundred  traders. 
In  1800,  when  Nor' Westers  and  Hudson's  Bay  came 
to  open  war  and  each  company  drove  the  other 
to  extremes  of  outlawry,  neither  had  intended  at 
the  beginning,  coureurs  falling  by  the  assassin's 
dagger,  a  Hudson's  Bay  governor  butchered  on 
the  open  field,  Indians  horsewhipped  for  daring  to 

153 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

communicate  with  rivals,  whole  camps  demoralized 
by  dmgged  liquor,  the  highest  record  was  twelve 
thousand  six  hundred  gallons  of  brandy  sent  out  for 
a  force  of  between  4,000  or  5,000  men.  This  gives 
an  average  of  three  gallons  a  year  for  each  trader. 
So  that  however  terrible  the  use  of  liquor  proved  in 
certain  disgraceful  episodes  between  the  two  great 
British  companies — it  must  be  seen  that  the  orgies 
were  neither  general  nor  frequent. 

It  is  astonishing,  too,  to  take  a  map  of  North 
America  and  consider  what  exploration  stands  to  the 
credit  of  the  fur  traders.  They  were  first  overland 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Hudson  Bay,  and  first 
inland  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi — 
thanks  to  Radisson. 

In  the  exploration  of  the  Arctic,  who  stands 
highest?  It  was  a  matter  of  paralyzing  astonish- 
ment to  the  Company,  itself,  when  I  told  them  I  had 
counted  up  in  their  books  what  they  had  spent  on 
the  Northwest  Passage,  and  that  before  1800  they 
had  suffered  dead  loss  on  that  account  of  ;^ioo,ooo. 
Beginning  with  old  Captain  Knight  in  1719,  who 
starved  to  death  on  Marble  Island  with  his  forty- 
three  men,  on  down  to  Heame  in  177 1,  and  Simpson 
and  Rae  in  later  days— that  story  of  exploration  is 
one  by  itself.    The  worid  knows  of  Franklins  and 

154 


**Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England'" 

Nansens,  but  has  never  heard  of  the  Company's 
humble  servants  whose  bones  are  bleaching  on  the 
storm-beaten  rocks  of  the  desolate  North.  Take 
that  bleak  desert  of  the  North,  Labrador — of  which 
modem  explorers  know  nothing — by  1750  Captain 
Coates  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  had  explored  its  shores 
at  a  loss  to  the  company  of  ;£26,ooo. 

Inland — by  1690,  that  ragamufi&n  London  boy, 
Henry  Kelsey,  who  ran  away  with  the  Indians  and 
afterward  rose  to  greatness  in  the  service,  had  pene- 
trated to  the  present  province  of  Manitoba  and  to 
the  Saskatchewan.  The  MacKenzie  River,  the 
Columbia,  the  Fraser,  the  passes  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, the  Yukon,  the  Liard,  the  Pelly — all  stand  to 
the  credit  of  the  fur  trader.  And  every  state  north  of 
Louisiana,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  echoed  to  the 
tramp  of  the  fur  traders'  horses  sweeping  the  wilder- 
ness for  beaver.  Gentlemen  Adventurers,  they 
called  themselves,  but  Lords  of  the  Outer  Marches 
were  they,  truly  as  any  robber  barons  that  found  and 
conquered  new  lands  for  a  feudal  king. 

Old-fashioned  feudalism  marked  the  Company's 
treatment  of  its  dependents.  To-day,  the  Indian 
simply  brings  his  furs  to  the  trader,  has  free  egress  to 
the  stores,  and  goes  his  way  like  any  other  buyer. 
A  hundred  years  ago,  bartering  was  done  through  a 

155 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

small  wicket  in  the  gate  of  the  fort  palisades ;  but  in 
early  times,  the  governor  of  each  little  fort  felt  the 
pomp  of  his  glory  like  a  Highland  chief.  Decking 
himself  in  scarlet  coat  with  profusion  of  gold  lace  and 
sword  at  belt,  he  marched  out  to  the  Indian  camp 
with  bugle  and  fife  blowing  to  the  fore,  and  all  the 
white  servants  in  line  behind.  Bartering  was  then 
accomplished  by  the  Indian  chief,  giving  the  white 
chief  the  furs,  and  the  white  chief  formally  presenting 
the  Indian  chief  with  a  quid  pro  quo,  both  sides 
puffing  the  peace  pipe  like  chimney  pots  as  a  token 
of  good-fellowship. 

How  these  pompous  governors — little  men  in  stat- 
ure some  of  them — kept  their  own  servants  obedi- 
ent, and  loyal  in  the  loneliness  of  these  wilderness 
wilds,  can  only  be  ascribed  to  their  personal  prowess. 
Of  course,  there  were  desertions,  desertions  to  the 
wild  life  and  to  the  French  overland  in  Canada  and 
to  the  Americans  south  of  the  boundary,  but  only 
once  was  payment  withheld  from  the  men  of  the  far 
fur  post  on  account  of  mutiny,  though  many  a 
mutiny  was  quelled  in  its  beginnings  by  the  governor 
doffing  his  dignity  and  laying  a  sound  drubbing  on 
the  back  of  the  mutineer.  The  men  were  paid  by 
bills  drawn  on  the  home  office  to  the  amount  of  two 
thirds  of  their  wages,  the  other  third  being  kept 
against  their  return  as  savings.    Many  devices  were 

156 


""Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England" 

employed  to  keep  the  men  loyal.  Did  a  captain 
accomplish  a  good  voyage?  The  home  committee 
ordered  him  a  bounty  of  ;^i5o.  Heame,  for  his  ex- 
plorations inland,  over  and  above  his  wages  was 
given  a  present  of  ;^2oo.  Did  a  man  suffer  from 
rigorous  climate?  The  committee  solemnly  indites: 
''£4,  smart  money,  for  a  frozen  toe."  Such  luck 
as  a  French  wood-runner  deserting  from  Canada 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay  was  promptly  recognized  by 
the  order:  ''To  Jan  Ba'tiste  Larlee,  ;^i-5,  a  periwig 
to  keep  him  loyal."  No  matter  to  what  desperate 
straits  war  reduced  the  Company's  finances,  it  was 
never  too  poor  to  pension  some  wreck  of  the  service, 
or  present  gold  plate  to  some  hero  of  the  fight,  or 
give  a  handsome  funeral  to  some  servant  who  died 
in  harness — "funeral  by  torch  light  and  linkmen, 
to  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  company  and  crew  in 
attendance,  £31."  Though  Governor  Semple  had 
been  little  more  than  a  year  on  the  field  when  he 
was  murdered,  the  Company  pensioned  both  his 
sisters  for  life.  The  humblest  servants  in  the  ranks 
— men  beginning  on  twenty  shillings  a  month,  like 
Kclsey,  and  Grimmington,  and  Heame,  and  old 
Captain  Knight — were  urged  and  encouraged  to  rise 
to  the  highest  positions  in  the  Company.  The  one 
thing  required  was — absolute,  implicit,  unquestioning 
loyalty;  the  Company  could  do  no  wrong.    Quite  the 

157 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

funniest  instance  of  the  Company's  fatherly  care  for 
its  servants  was  the  matrimonial  office.  For  years, 
especially  in  time  of  war,  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  secure  apprentices  at  all,  though  the  agents  paid 
£2  as  bonus  on  signing  the  contract.  At  this  period 
in  the  Company''s  history,  I  came  across  a  curious 
record  in  the  minutes.  A  General  Court  was  se- 
cretly called  of  which  no  entry  was  to  be  made  in 
the  minutes,  to  consider  the  proposals  of  one,  Mr. 
Andrew  Vallentine,  for  the  good  of  the  Company's 
service.  In  addition  to  the  shareholders'  general 
oath  of  secrecy,  every  one  attending  this  meeting  had 
to  take  solemn  vows  not  to  reveal  the  proceedings. 
What  could  it  be  about?  I  scanned  the  general 
minutes,  the  committee  books,  the  sub-committee 
records  of  shippings  and  sailings  and  wars.  It  was 
not  about  France,  for  proceedings  against  France 
were  in  the  open.  It  was  not  a  "back-stairs"  fund, 
for  when  the  Company  wanted  favors  it  openly  sent 
purses  of  gold  or  beaver  stockings  or  cat-skin  counter- 
panes. But  farther  on  in  the  minutes,  when  the 
good  secretary  had  forgotten  all  about  secrecy,  I 
found  a  cryptic  entry  about  the  cryptic  gentleman, 
Mr.  Andrew  Vallentine — "that  all  entries  about  Mr. 
Andrew  Vallentine' s  office  for  the  service  of  the 
Company  be  made  in  a  Booke  Aparte,"  and  that 
10  per  cent,  of  the  regular  yearly  dividends  go  as 

158 


** Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England^* 

dowries  for  the  brides  of  the  apprentices,  the  cere- 
monies to  be  performed — not  by  any  unfrocked 
clergyman  under  the  rose — but  by  the  Honorable, 
the  Very  Reverend  Doctor  Sacheverell  of  renown. 
The  business  with  the  gentleman  of  matrimonial 
fame  was  not  called  "a  marriage  office."  No  such 
clumsy  herding  of  fair  ones  to  the  altar,  as  in  Virginia 
and  Quebec,  where  brides  were  sent  in  shiploads 
and  exposed  on  the  town  square  like  slaves  at  the 
shambles.  The  Company's  matrimonial  venture  was 
kept  in  dignified  reserve,  that  would  send  down  no 
stigma  to  descendants.  It  was  organized  and  desig- 
nated as  a  separate  company;  certainly,  a  company 
of  two.  Later  on,  Mr.  Vallentine's  office  being  too 
small  for  the  rush  of  business,  the  secretary,  ^^Mr, 
Potter  is  ordered  to  arrange  a  larger  office  for  Mr. 
Vallentine  in  the  Buttery  of  the  Companys  store 
house."  But  all  the  delightful  possibilities  hidden 
in  Mr.  Vallentine's  suggestive  name  and  in  the 
oleaginous  place  which  he  chose  for  his  matrimonial 
mart — failed  to  make  the  course  of  true  love  run 
smooth.  Mr.  Vallentine  entangled  the  Company  in 
lawsuits  and  on  his  death  in  1731,  the  office  was 
closed. 

Notes  on  Foregoing  Chapters. — Groseillers's  name  is  given  in 
a  variety  of  ways,  the  full  name  being  Medard  Chouart  Gros- 
eillers — the  last  translated  by  the  English  as  "Goosebcry," 
which  of  course  would  necessitate  the  name  being  spelled 
"Groseilliers." 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


The  account  of  the  passage  of  the  ships  across  the  Atlantic 
is  drawn  from  Radisson  Journals,  from  his  Petitions,  and  from 
the  Journal  of  Gillam  as  reported  by  Thomas  Gorst,  Bayly's 
secretary.  There  are  also  scraps  about  the  trip  in  Sir  James 
Hayes'  report  of  damage  to  The  Eaglet,  which  he  submitted  to 
the  Admiralty. 

The  relationship  of  Radisson  to  Groseillers  and  the  French 
version  of  the  quarrel  on  the  bay — are  to  be  found  in  the  life  of 
Radisson  in  Pathfinders  of  the  West.  Though  I  have  searched 
diligently,  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  a  single  authority,  ancient 
or  modem,  for  the  odd  version  given  by  several  writers  of 
Radisson  and  Groseillers  absconding  overland  to  New  France, 
The  statement  is  sheer  fiction — neither  more  nor  less,  as  the 
Minutes  of  Hudson's  Bay  House  account  for  Radisson's  move- 
ments almost  monthly  from  1667  to  1674,  when  he  left  London 
for  France. 

A  comical  story  is  current  in  London  about  the  charter. 
After  the  monopoly  was  relinquished  by  the  Company  in  1870 
and  its  territory  taken  over  by  Canada,  the  old  charter  was,  of 
course,  of  no  importance.  For  thirty  years  it  disappeared.  It 
was  finally  found  jammed  behind  old  papers  tumbled  down  the 
back  of  an  old  safe — and  this  was  the  charter  that  deeded  away 
three-quarters  of  America. 

Before  a  Parliamentary  Commission  on  March  10,  1749,  the 
Company  made  the  following  statement  concerning  its  stock: 
1676  October  16  It  appears  by  the  Company's  Books, 

that  their  stock  then  was £  10,500 

1690  September  The  same  being  trebled  is.  .      21,000 

Which  made  the  Stock  to  be 31.500 

1720  August  29  This  Stock  being  again 
trebled  is 63,000 

Which  made  the  Stock  to  be 94,500 

And  a  subscription  then  taken  in  of 
10%  amounting  to 
Additional  Stock 9,450 

Which  makes  the  present  Amount  of 

the  Stock  to  be 103,950 

The  minutes  of  the  Company  and  Radisson's  journal  alike 
prove  that  he  passed  to  France  from  England,  in  October,  1674. 
Whether  Groseillers  came  to  England  on  the  ship  is  not  stated, 
therefore  the  question  is  left  open,  but  it  is  stated  that  Groseillers 

160 


''Gentlemen  Adventurers  of  England** 


passed  to  France  at  the  same  time,  so  that  pretty  story  of 
Groseillers  knocking  Bayly's  head  is  all  fiction. 

I  was  not  able  to  find  that  "Booke  Aparte"  in  which  entries 
were  made  of  Mr.  Andrew  Vallentine's  matrimonial  mart.  It 
may  yet  turn  up  in  the  cellarful  of  old  papers  in  the  Company's 
warehouse.  Perhaps  it  is  as  well  that  it  should  not,  for  some 
of  the  most  honored  names  in  Canadian  history  came  into  the 
service  of  the  Company  at  this  time. 

Lyddell's  salary  as  governor  of  the  west  coast  of  the  bay 
was  to  be  ^^loo  per.  annum.  Sailors  were  paid,  in  167 1,  from 
;C2o  to  ;^3o  a  year,  the  surgeons  ;£2o  a  year. 


161 


CHAPTER  IX 

1674-1685 

IF  RADISSON  CAN  DO  WITHOUT  THE  ADVENTURERS, 
THE  ADVENTURERS  a\NNOT  DO  WITHOUT  RAD- 
ISSON— THE  ERUPTION  OF  THE  FRENCH  ON  THE 
BAY — THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  RAIDERS 

WHILE  Radisson  became  once  more  a 
man  without  habitat  or  country,  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Adventurers  were  in  the 
very  springtime  of  wonderful  prosperity.  Despite 
French  interlopers  coming  overland  from  the  St. 
Lawrence,  the  ships  of  1679  brought  home  cargoes 
totaling  10,500  beaver,  1,100  marten,  200  otter,  700 
elk  and  a  vast  quantity  of  such  smaller  furs  as  musk- 
rat  and  ermine.  Cash  to  the  value  of  half  the  Com- 
pany's capital  lay  in  the  strong  box  as  a  working 
fund,  and  by  1681  dividends  to  the  value  of  just  twice 
the  Company's  stock  had  been  paid  to  the  share- 
holders. The  first  speculation  in  the  stock  began 
about  this  time,  the  shares  changing  hands  at  an 
advance  of  33  per  cent,  and  a  new  lot  of  shareholders 
coming  in,  among  whom  was  the  famous  architect — 
Christopher  Wrenn.    At  this  time,  too,  one,   Mr. 

162 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


Phillips,  was  expelled  as  a  shareholder  for  attempt- 
ing to  conduct  a  private  trade  through  members  of 
the  crews.  Prince  Rupert  continued  to  be  governor 
till  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1682,  when  James,  Duke 
of  York,  was  chosen  to  succeed.  At  first,  the  govern- 
ing committee  had  met  only  before  the  ships  sailed 
and  after  they  returned.  Committee  meetings  were 
now  held  two  or  three  times  a  week,  a  payment  of 
6s  8d  being  made  to  each  man  for  attendance,  a  like 
amount  being  levied  as  a  fine  for  absence,  the  fines 
to  be  kept  in  a  Poor  Box  for  the  benefit  of  the  service. 

Bayly,  who  had  been  governor  on  the  south  coast 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  when  Radisson  left,  now  came 
home  in  health  broken  from  long  exposure,  to  die 
at  Mr.  Walker's  house  on  the  Strand,  whence  he  was 
buried  with  full  military  honors,  the  crew  of  The 
John  and  Alexander  and  the  Adventurers  marching 
by  ''torch  light"  to  St.  Paul's  Churchyard. 

Hudson  Bay — let  it  be  repeated — can  be  com- 
pared in  size  only  to  the  Mediterranean.  One  gov- 
ernor could  no  more  command  all  the  territory  bor- 
dering it  than  one  ruler  could  govern  all  the  countries 
lx)rdering  the  Mediterranean.  Nixon  was  com- 
missioned to  succeed  Bayly  as  governor  of  the  South 
Shore — namely  of  Rupert  and  Moose  Rivers,  terri- 
tory inland  about  the  size  of  modem  Germany,  which 
the  new  governor  was  supposed  to  keep  in  order 

163 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

with  a  force  of  sixteen  men  from  the  crew  of  The 
John  and  Alexander  and  garrison  of  eight  men  at 
each  of  the  two  forts — thirty-two  men  in  all,  serving 
at  salaries  ranging  from  $60  (;^i2)  to  $100  (£20) 
a  year,  to  police  a  barbarous  pre-historic  Germany; 
and  the  marvel  is,  they  did  it.  Crime  was  almost 
unknown.  Mr,  Nixon's  princely  salary  as  governor, 
poohbah,  potentate,  was  ;^2oo  a  year,  and  it  is 
ordered.  May,  1680,  "that  a  cask  of  canary  be  sent 
out  as  a  present  to  Governor  Nixon." 

On  the  West  Coast,  it  will  be  remembered,  Lyd- 
dell  had  gone  out  as  governor.  That  vague  "West 
Coast" — though  the  Adventurers  did  not  know  it — 
meant  a  region  the  size  of  Russia.  Lyddell  was  now 
succeeded  by  Sargeant,  the  bluffest,  bravest,  halest, 
heartiest  of  governors  that  ever  donned  the  gold  lace 
and  pompous  insignia  of  the  Adventurers.  Sar- 
geant's  garrison  never  at  any  time  numbered  more 
than  forty  and  usually  did  not  exceed  twelve.  His 
fort  was  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  Albany  River, 
some  one  hundred  miles  north  of  Moose.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  Radisson  had  traveled  three  hun- 
dred miles  farther  up  the  west  coast  to  Port  Nelson. 
The  Company  now  decided  to  appoint  a  governor  for 
that  region,  too,  and  John  Bridgar  was  commissioned 
to  go  out  in  1682  with  Captain  Gillam  on  the  ship 
Prince  Rupert— sl  bad  combination,  these  two,  whose 

164 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


chief  qualification  seemed  to  be  swashbuckler  valor, 
fearlessness  of  the  sea,  ability  to  break  the  heads  of 
their  men  and  to  drown  all  remorse  pottle  deep  in 
liquor.  How  did  they  rule,  these  little  potentates 
of  the  wilds?  With  all  the  circumstance  and  pomp 
of  war,  couriers  running  beforehand  when  they 
traveled,  drums  beating,  flags  flying,  muskets  and 
cannon  roaring  salutes,  a  bugler  tootling  to  the  fore  of 
a  governor  dressed  in  gaudiest  regimentals,  a  line 
of  white  servants  marching  behind,  though  they 
were  so  poor  they  wore  Indian  garb  and  had  in  their 
hearts  the  hatred  of  the  hireling  for  a  tyrant ;  for  over 
them  the  Company  had  power  of  life  and  death 
without  redress.  All  very  absurd,  it  seems,  at  this 
long  distant  time,  but  all  very  effective  with  the 
Indians,  who  mistook  noise  for  power  and  display 
for  greatness. 

By  royal  edict,  privateers  were  forbidden  to  go  to 
Hudson  Bay,  whether  from  England  or  New  Eng- 
land. Instead  of  two  small  ships  borrowed  from 
the  Admiralty,  the  Adventurers  now  had  four  of  their 
own  and  two  chartered  yearly — The  Prudent  Mary, 
and  Albermurle  frigate  and  Colleton  yacht  outward 
bound,  The  Prince  Rupert  and  John  and  Alexander 
and  Sliajtshury  —  which  was  wrecked  —  homeward 
bound,  or  vice  versa.  And  there  began  to  come  into 
Company's  records,  grand  old  names  of  grand  old 

165 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

mariners— Vikings  of  the  North — Mike  Grimming- 
ton,  who  began  before  the  mast  of  The  Albemarle  at 
thirty  shiUings  a  month,  and  Knight,  of  whose  tragic 
fate  more  anon,  and  Walker,  who  came  to  blows 
with  Governor  Sargeant,  outward  bound.  Those 
were  not  soft  days  for  soft  men.  They  were  days  of 
the  primordial  when  the  best  man  slept  in  his  fight- 
ing gear  and  the  victory  went  to  the  strong. 

When  Captain  James  had  come  out  to  follow  up 
Hudson's  discoveries,  he  had  left  his  name  to  James 
Bay  and  discovered  Charlton  Island,  some  forty 
miles  from  the  South  Shore.  Now  that  the  Company 
had  so  many  ships  afloat,  Charlton  Island  became 
the  rendezvous.  The  ships,  that  were  to  winter  on 
the  bay,  went  to  their  posts,  but  to  Charlton  Island 
came  the  cargoes  for  those  homeward  bound. 

To  Port  Nelson,  then,  came  Governor  Bridgar 
on  The  Prince  Rupert  with  Captain  Gillam,  in 
August,  of  1682.  Mike  Grimmington  is  now  second 
mate.  Gillam  must  have  been  to  Port  Nelson  before 
on  trading  ventures,  but  Governor  Bridgar's  com- 
mission was  to  establish  that  fort  which  for  two  cen- 
turies was  to  be  the  battleground  of  Northern  traders 
and  may  yet  be  the  great  port  of  Northern  commerce. 
The  whole  region  was  called  Nelson  after  Admiral 
Button's  mate,  but  it  was  to  become  better  known 

166 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


as  Fort  Bourbon,  when  possessed  by  the  French; 
as  York,  when  it  repassed  to  the  EngHsh. 

Shifting  shoals  of  sand-drift  barred  the  sea  from 
the  main  coast  for  ten  miles  north  and  south,  but 
across  the  shoals  were  gaps  visible  at  low  tide, 
through  which  the  current  broke  with  the  swiftness 
of  a  river.  Gillam  ordered  small  boats  out  to  sound 
and  stake  the  ship's  course  by  flags  erected  in  the 
sand  at  half  tide.  Between  these  flags.  The  Prince 
Rupert  slowly  moved  inland.  Inside  the  sand-bar, 
the  coast  was  seen  to  be  broken  by  the  mouths  of  two 
great  rivers — either  one  a  miniature  St.  Lawrence, 
on  the  north  the  Nelson,  on  the  south  the  Hayes.  It 
was  on  the  Hayes  to  the  south  that  the  Adventurers 
finally  built  their  fur  post,  but  Bridgar  and  Gillam 
now  pushed  The  Prince  Rupert's  carved  prow  slowly 
up  the  northern  river,  the  Nelson.  The  stream  was 
wide  with  a  tremendous  current  and  low,  swampy, 
wooded  banks.  Each  night  sails  were  reefed  and 
men  sent  ashore  to  seek  a  good  site  or  sign  of  Indians. 
Night  after  night  during  the  whole  month  of  Sep- 
tember, John  Calvert,  Robert  Braddon,  Richard 
Phineas,  Robert  Sally  and  Thomas  Candy  punted 
in  and  out  of  the  coves  along  the  Nelson,  lighting 
bonfires,  firing  muskets,  spying  the  shore  for  foot- 
step of  native.  On  the  ship,  Bridgar  ordered  the 
cannon  fired  as  signals  to  distant  Indians  and  for 

167 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


the  first  time  in  history  the  roar  of  heavy  guns  rolled 
across  the  swamps.  Winter  began  to  close  in  early. 
Ice  was  forming.  Nipping  frosts  had  painted  the 
swamp  woods  in  colors  of  fire.  One  afternoon 
toward  October  when  The  Prince  Rupert  was  some 
seventeen  miles  from  the  sand-bar,  gliding  noiselessly 
with  full-blown  sails  before  a  gentle  wind,  the  smoke 
of  an  Indian  signal  shot  skyward  from  the  south 
shore. 

In  vain  Bridgar  fired  muskets  all  that  afternoon 
and  waved  flags,  to  call  the  savages  to  the  ship.  A 
solitary  figure,  seeming  to  be  a  spy,  emerged  from 
the  brushwood,  gazing  stolidly  at  the  apparition  of 
the  ship.  Presently,  two  or  three  more  figures  were 
discovered  moving  through  the  swamp.  The  next 
morning  Governor  Bridgar  ordered  the  gig-boat 
lowered,  and  accompanied  by  Gillam  and  an  escort 
of  six  sailors — rowed  ashore.  First  impressions 
count  much  with  the  Indians.  On  such  occasion, 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  officers  never  failed  of 
pompous  ostentation — profusion  of  gold  lace,  cocked 
hats  for  oflScers,  colored  regimentals  for  underlings, 
a  bugler  to  the  fore,  or  a  Scotchman  blowing  his 
bagpipes,  with  a  show  of  burnished  firearms  and 
helmets. 

On  rowed  the  gig-boat  toward  the  imperturbable 
figure  on  the  shore.    Some  paces  out,   the  boat 

i68 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


grated  bottom  and  stuck  in  the  sand.  A  sailor  had 
jumped  to  mid-waist  in  water  to  drag  the  craft  in, 
when  the  stolid  figure  on  the  sand  suddenly  came  to 
life.  With  a  leap,  leveled  musket  covering  the  in- 
coming boat,  the  man  had  bounded  to  the  water's 
edge  and  in  purest  English  shouted — "Halt!" 

"We  are  Hudson's  Bay  Company  men,"  protested 
Bridgar  standing  up. 

"But  I,"  answered  the  figure,  "am  Radisson,  and 
I  hold  possession  of  all  this  region  for  France." 

If  the  Frenchman  had  been  Vesuvius  suddenly 
erupted  under  some  idling  tourists,  or  if  a  ghost 
arisen  from  the  ground,  the  English  could  not  have 
been  more  astonished.  They  had  thought  they 
had  finished  with  the  troublesome  Frenchman,  and 
behold  him,  here,  in  possession  with  a  musket 
leveled  at  their  heads  and  three  men  commanding 
ambushed  forces  behind. 

With  a  show  of  hollow  courage,  Bridgar  asked 
permission  to  land  and  salute  the  commander  of  the 
French  forces.  One  can  guess  with  what  love,  they 
fell  on  each  other's  necks.  Radisson's  courage  rose 
recklessly  as  if  the  danger  had  been  so  much  wine. 
These  three  men  were  his  officers,  he  said.  His  fort 
was  some  distance  away.  He  had  two  ships  but 
expected  more.  How  many  men  had  he?  Ah, 
there  his  English  failed,  but   his   broken   French 

169 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

conveyed  the  impression  of  forces  that  could  wipe  the 
English  out  of  existence.  Gillam  and  Bridgar,  who 
could  not  speak  one  word  of  French,  looked  glum 
enough.  To  test  this  brave  show  of  valor,  they 
invited  him  on  lx)ard  The  Prince  Rupert  to  dine. 
Radisson  accepted  with  an  alacrity  that  disarmed 
suspicion,  but  he  took  the  precaution  of  inviting  two 
English  sailors  to  remain  on  shore  with  his  French 
followers.  What  yarns  were  spun  over  the  mess 
room  table  of  The  Prince  Rupert  that  day!  Radis- 
son enquired  for  all  his  own  friends  of  London,  and 
Bridgar  in  turn  heard  what  Radisson  had  been  doing 
in  the  French  navy  all  these  eight  years.  Who 
knew  Port  Nelson  better  than  Radisson?  They 
asked  him  about  the  current  of  the  river.  He  ad- 
vised them  to  penetrate  no  farther  for  fear  of  a  clash 
with  the  French  forces  and  to  forbid  their  men 
marauding  inland  in  order  to  avoid  trouble  with 
the  Indians. 

Could  any  one  guess  that  the  astute  Frenchman, 
boasting  of  ships  and  so  recklessly  quaffing  toasts  at 
the  table  of  his  enemies — was  defenseless  and  power- 
less in  their  hands?  His  fort  was  not  on  this  river 
but  on  the  Hayes  across  the  swamp  to  the  south — a 
miserable  collection  of  log  shacks  with  turf  roofs, 
garrisoned  by  a  mere  handful  of  mutinous  sailors. 
His  fear  was  not  that  the  English  would  clash  with 

170 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


the  French  forces,  but  that  they  would  leam  how 
weak  he  was.  And  another  discovery  added  the 
desperation  of  recklessness  to  the  game.  Radisson 
and  Groseillers  had  come  to  the  bay  but  a  month 
before  on  two  miserable  ships  with  twenty-seven 
men.  Musketry  firing  had  warned  Radisson  of 
some  one  else  at  Port  Nelson.  Twenty-six  miles  up 
Nelson  River  on  Gillam  Island,  he  had  discovered 
to  his  amazement,  poachers  who  were  old  acquaint- 
ances— Ben  Gillam,  son  of  the  Company's  captain, 
with  John  Outlaw,  come  in  The  Bachellors^  Delight 
from  Boston,  on  June  21,  to  poach  on  the  Com- 
pany's fur  preserve.  It  was  while  canoeing  down 
stream  from  the  discovery  of  the  j3oachers  that 
Radisson  ran  full-tilt  into  the  Company's  ship.  Here, 
then,  was  a  pretty  dilemma — two  English  ships  on 
the  same  river  not  twenty  miles  apart,  the  French 
south  across  the  swamp  not  a  week's  journey  away. 
Radisson  was  trapped,  if  they  had  but  known.  His 
only  chance  was  to  keep  The  Prince  Rupert  and 
The  Bachellors'  Delight  apart,  and  to  master  them 
singly. 

If  Bridgar  had  realized  Radisson's  plight,  the 
Frenchman  would  have  been  clapped  under  hatches 
in  a  twinkle,  but  he  was  allowed  to  leave  The  Prince 
Rupert.  Bridgar  beached  his  ships  on  the  flats  and 
prepared  to  build  winter  quarters.    Ten  days  later, 

171 


The  Conquest  oj  the  Great  Northwest 

Radisson  dropped  in  again,  "to  drink  health,"  as  he 
suavely  explained,  introducing  common  sailors  as 
officers  and  firing  off  muskets  to  each  cup  quaffed, 
to  learn  whether  the  Company  kept  soldiers  "on 
guard  in  case  of  a  surprise."  Governor  Bridgar 
was  too  far  gone  in  liquor  to  notice  the  trick,  but 
Captain  Gillam  rushed  up  the  decks  of  The  Prince 
Rupert  with  orders  for  the  French  to  begone.  Gillam 
and  Radisson  had  been  enemies  from  the  first. 
Gillam  was  suspicious.  Therefore,  it  behooved 
Radisson  to  play  deeper.  The  next  time  he  came 
to  the  ship  he  was  accompanied  by  the  Captain's 
son,  Ben,  the  poacher,  dressed  as  a  bushranger. 
There  was  reason  enough  now  for  the  old  captain 
to  keep  his  crew  from  going  farther  up  the  river. 
If  Ben  Gillam  were  discovered  in  illicit  trade,  it 
meant  ruin  to  both  father  and  son.  When  some  of 
his  crew  remarked  the  resemblance  of  the  supposed 
bushranger  to  the  absent  son,  Captain  Gillam  went 
cold  with  fright. 

Falsity,  intrigue,  danger,  were  in  the  very  air.  It 
lacked  but  the  spark  to  cause  the  explosion;  and 
chance  supplied  the  spark. 

Two  of  the  Company  men  ranging  for  game  came 
on  young  Gillam's  ship.  They  dashed  back  breath- 
less to  Governor  Bridgar  with  word  that  there  was  a 
strange  fort  only  a  few  miles  away.     Bridgar  thought 

172 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


this  must  be  the  French  fort,  and  Captain  Gillam 
had  not  courage  to  undeceive  him.  Scouts  were  sent 
scurrying.  Those  scouts  never  returned.  They  had 
been  benighted  in  a  howling  bUzzard  and  as  chance 
would  have  it,  were  rescued  by  Radisson's  spies. 
While  he  waited  for  their  return,  worse  disaster  befell 
Bridgar.  Storm  and  ice  set  the  tide  driving  in  Nel- 
son River  like  a  whirlpool.  The  Prince  Rupert  was 
jammed,  ripped,  crushed  like  an  eggshell  and  sunk 
with  loss  of  all  provisions  and  fourteen  men,  includ- 
ing old.  "Captain  Gillam.  Mike  Grimmington,  the 
mate,  escaped.  Governor  Bridgar  was  left  destitute 
and  naked  to  the  enemy  without  either  food  or  am- 
munition for  the  remainder  of  his  crew  to  face  the 
winter.  The  wretched  man  seems  to  have  saved 
nothing  from  the  wreck  but  the  liquor,  and  in  this  he 
at  once  proceeded  to  drown  despair.  It  was  Rad- 
isson who  came  to  his  rescue.  Nothing  more  was  to 
be  feared  from  Bridgar.  Therefore,  the  Frenchman 
sent  food  to  the  servants  of  his  former  friends.  With- 
out his  aid,  the  entire  Hudson's  Bay  crew  would  have 
perished. 

Cooped  up  in  the  deplorable  rabbit  hutches  that 
did  duty  as  barracks,  and  constantly  besotted  with 
liquor.  Governor  Bridgar  was  eking  out  a  miserable 
winter  when  he  was  electrified  by  another  piece  of 
chance  news.    A  thunderous  rapping  awakened  the 

^7Z 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

cabin  one  winter  night.  When  the  door  was  opened, 
there  stumbled  in  a  disheveled,  panting  Scotchman 
with  an  incoherent  plea  for  help.  The  French  were 
attacking  Ben  Gillam's  fort.  For  the  first  time, 
Bridgar  learned  that  the  fort  up  stream  was  not 
French  but  English — the  fort  of  Ben  Gillam,  the 
poacher;  and  all  his  pot  valor  resolved  on  one  last, 
desperate  cast  of  the  dice.  To  be  sure,  the  other 
ship  was  a  poacher;  but  she  was  English.  If  Bridgar 
united  with  her,  he  might  beat  Radisson.'  He  would 
at  least  have  a  ship  to  escape  to  the  Company's  forts  at 
the  lower  end  of  Hudson  Bay,  or  to  England.  Also, 
he  owed  his  own  and  his  crew's  life  to  Radisson ;  but  he 
owed  his  services  to  the  Company,  and  the  Company 
could  best  be  served  by  treachery  to  Radisson  and 
alliance  with  that  scalawag  sailor  adventurer — Ben 
Gillam,  whose  ship  sailed  under  as  many  names  as 
a  pirate  and  showed  flags  as  various  as  the  seasons. 
Better  men  than  Bridgar  forced  to  choose  between 
the  scalawag  with  the  dollar  and  honor  with  ruin, 
have  chosen  the  scalawag  with  the  dollar. 

Men  sent  out  as  scouts  came  back  with  unsatis- 
factory tales  of  having  failed  to  capture  Ben  Gillam's 
ship,  but  they  were  loaded  with  food  for  Bridgar 
from  Radisson.  Bridgar  only  waited  till  spies  re- 
ported that  Radisson  had  left  Gillam's  fort  to  cross 
the  marsh  to- French  headquarters.    Then  he  armed 

174 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


his  men — cutlass,  bludgeon,  such  muskets  as  Rad- 
isson's  ammunition  rendered  available — and  set  out. 
It  was  a  forced  tramp  in  midwinter  through  bitter 
cold.  The  men  were  an  ill-clad  rabble.  They  were 
unused  to  this  cold  with  frost  that  glittered  sharp  as 
diamond-points,  and  had  not  yet  learned  snowshoe 
travel  over  the  rolling  drifts.  Frost-bitten,  plunging 
to  their  armpits  in  snow,  they  followed  the  iced  river 
bed  by  moonlight  and  sometime  before  dawn  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  main  gate  of  Ben  Gillam's 
palisaded  fort.  Never  doubting  but  Gillam's  sentry 
stood  inside,  Bridgar  knocked.  The  gate  swung 
open  before  a  sleepy  guard.  In  rushed  Bridgar's 
men.  Bang  went  the  gates  shut.  In  the  confusion 
of  half-light  and  frost  smoke,  armed  men  surrounded 
the  English.  Bridgar  was  trapped  in  his  own  trap. 
Not  Gillam's  men  manned  the  poacher's  fort,  but 
Radisson's  French  sailors.  Ben  Gillam  and  his  crew 
had  long  since  been  captured  and  marched  across 
the  swamp  to  French  headquarters.  Bridgar  and  his 
crew  were  the  prisoners  of  the  French  in  the  poacher's 
fort. 

The  rest  of  the  winter  of  1682-83  belongs  to  the 
personal  history  of  Radisson  and  is  told  in  his  life. 
Between  despair  and  drink,  Bridgar  was  a  madman. 
Radisson  carried  him  to  the  French  fort  on  Hayes 
River,  whence  in  a  few  weeks  he  was  released  on 

175 


The  Conquest  oj  the  Great  Northwest 

parole  to  go  back  to  his  own  rabbit  hutch  of  a  bar- 
racks. When  spring  came,  between  poachers  and 
Company  men,  the  French  had  more  EngHsh  prisoners 
than  they  knew  what  to  do  with.  To  make  matters 
worse,  one  of  the  French  boats  had  been  wrecked 
in  the  ice  jam.  It  was  decided  to  send  some  of  the 
EngHsh  prisoners  on  the  remaining  boat  to  Moose 
and  Rupert  River  at  the  south  end  of  the  bay,  and 
to  carry  the  rest  on  the  poacher  Bachellors^  Delight  to 
Quebec.  Outlaw  and  some  of  the  other  poachers 
would  take  no  chance  of  going  back  to  New  England 
to  be  arrested  as  pirates.  They  went  in  The  Ste. 
Anne  to  the  foot  of  James  Bay  and  joined  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Bridgar,  too,  was  to  have 
gone  to  his  company's  forts  on  James  Bay,  but  at  the 
last  moment  he  pretended  to  fear  the  ice  floes  on  such 
a  slender  craft  and  asked  to  go  with  Radisson  on 
The  Bachellors^  Delight  to  Quebec.  Giving  the 
twelve  refugees  on  The  Ste.  Anne  each  four  pounds 
of  beef,  two  bushels  of  oatmeal  and  flour,  Radisson 
dispatched  them  for  the  forts  of  James  Bay  on 
August  14th.  He  had  already  set  fire  to  Bridgar's 
cabins  on  Nelson  River  and  destroyed  the  poachers' 
fort  on  Gillam  Island,  Bridgar,  himself,  asking  per- 
mission to  set  the  flame  to  Ben  Gillam's  houses. 
Leaving  Groseillers'  son,  Chouart,  with  seven  French- 
men to  hold  possession  of  Port  Nelson,  Radisson  set 

176 


Radisso7i  and  the  Adventurers 


sail  with  his  prisoners  on  The  Bachellors^  Delight. 
A  few  miles  out,  a  friendly  Englishman  warned  him 
of  conspiracy.  Bridgar  and  Ben  Gillam  were  plot- 
ting a  mutiny  to  cut  the  throats  of  all  the  Frenchmen 
and  return  to  put  the  garrison  at  Port  Nelson  to  the 
sword;  so  when  Bridgar  asked  for  the  gig-boat  to 
attempt  going  six  hundred  miles  to  the  forts  at  the 
south  end  of  the  bay,  Radisson's  answer  was  to  order 
him  under  lock  the  rest  of  the  voyage. 

At  Quebec,  profound  disappointment  awaited 
Radisson.  Frontenac  had  given  place  to  De  la 
Barre  as  governor  of  New  France,  and  De  la  Barre 
knew  that  a  secret  treaty  existed  between  France 
and  England.  He  would  lend  no  countenance 
to  Radisson's  raid.  The  Bachellors^  Delight  was 
restored  to  young  Gillam  and  Radisson  ordered  to 
France  to  report  all  he  had  done.  Young  Gillam 
was  promptly  arrested  in  Boston  for  poaching  on 
Hudson  Bay.  Within  a  few  years,  he  had  turned 
pirate  in  earnest,  or  been  driven  to  piracy  by  the 
monopolistic  laws  that  gave  every  region  for  trade 
to  some  special  favorite  of  the  English  crown.  About 
the  time  Captain  Kidd  of  pirate  fame  was  arrested 
at  Boston,  one  Gillam  of  The  Prudent  Sarah  was 
arrested,  too.  By  wrenching  off  his  handcuffs  and 
filing  out  the  bars  of  his  prison  window  with  the  iron 
of  the  handcuff,  Gillam  almost  escaped.    He  was 

177 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

leaping  out  of  the  prison  window  on  old  Court  Street 
when  the  bayonet  of  a  guard  prodded  him  back.  With 
Captain  Kidd,  he  was  taken  to  England  and  tried 
for  crimes  on  the  high  seas.  There,  he  drops  from 
history. 

As  for  Bridgar,  he  no  sooner  whiffed  Governor 
De  la  Barre's  fear  of  consequences  for  what  Radisson 
had  done,  than  he  set  two  worlds  ringing  with  vaunt- 
ings  of  the  vengeance  England  would  take.  Put- 
ting through  drafts  on  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for 
money,  he  hired  interpreters,  secretaries,  outriders, 
and  assumed  pomp  that  would  have  done  credit  to 
a  king's  ambassador.  Sailing  to  New  England  with 
Ben  Gillam,  he  cut  a  similar  swath  from  Boston  to 
New  York,  riding  like  a  Jehu  along  the  old  post  road 
in  a  noisy  endeavor  to  rehabilitate  his  own  dignity. 
Then  he  sailed  for  England  where  condign  humilia- 
tion lay  in  wait.  The  Company  was  furious.  They 
refused  to  honor  his  drafts  and  would  not  pay  him 
one  penny's  salary  from  the  day  he  had  surrendered 
to  Radisson.  The  wages  of  the  captured  servants, 
the  Company  honored  in  full,  even  the  wages  of  the 
dead  in  the  wreck  of  The  Prince  Rupert.  Bridgar 
was  retained  in  the  ser\dce,  but  severely  reprimanded. 

Notes  on  Chapter  IX. — Practically  the  entire  contents  of 
this  chapter  are  taken  from  the  documents  in  Hudson's  Bay 
House,  London.  Details  of  the  Company's  afifairs  are  from  the 
Minute  Books,  of  the  fracas  with  Radisson,  from  the  affidavits 

178 


Radisson  and  the  Adventurers 


of  John  Outlaw,  who  first  went  to  the  bay  as  a  poacher  with 
young  Gillam,  and  from  the  affidavits  of  Bridgar's  crew. 

It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  Gillam  Sr. 
survived  the  wreck  of  The  Prince  Rupert.  The  question  is 
settled  by  the  fact  that  his  wages  are  "payable  to  an  attorney 
for  his  heirs."  If  he  had  lived,  it  was  ordered  that  he  was  to 
be  arrested  for  complicity  in  piracy  with  his  son. 

The  ultimate  fate  of  Ben  Gillam  I  found  in  the  Shaftesbury 
collection  of  papers  bearing  on  Captain  Kidd.  His  name  is 
variously  given  as  "William"  and  "James,"  but  I  think  there 
can  be  little  doubt  of  his  identity  from  several  coincidences. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Gillam  whom  Mr.  Randolph  arrested  for 
piracy  (and  was  given  a  present  by  the  Company  for  so  doing) 
was  the  Gillaum  later  arrested  in  connection  with  Captain  Kidd. 
Also  Gillam's  boat  was  known  under  a  variety  of  names — 
Bachellors'  Delight,  Prudent  Sarah,  and  the  master  of  The  Pru- 
dent Sarah  was  arrested  in  connection  with  Captain  Kidd.  The 
minutes  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  show  that  the  Boston 
owners  of  Gillam's  boat  sued  for  the  loss  of  this  trip  against  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  lost  their  suit.  This  was  the  first 
test  of  the  legality  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  monopoly,  and 
the  courts  upheld  it. 

Radisson's  life  as  given  in  Pathfinders  of  the  West  and  Her- 
alds of  Empire  affords  fuller  details  of  the  fray  from  the  French- 
man's point  of  view.  It  is  remarkable  how  slightly  his  record 
differs  from  the  account  as  contained  in  the  official  affidavits. 

As  to  the  distance  of  Charlton  Island  from  the  main  coast — 
it  puzzled  me  how  the  sailing  directions  for  the  ships  that  were 
to  rendezvous  there  gave  the  distance  of  the  island  from  the 
main  coast  as  anything  from  twenty  to  eighty  miles.  The 
explanation  is  the  point  on  the  south  coast  that  is  considered. 


179 


CHAPTER  X 

1683-1685 

THE  ADVENTURERS  FURIOUS  AT  RADISSON,  FIND  IT 
CHEAPER  TO  HAVE  HIM  AS  FRIEND  THAN  ENEMY 
AND  INVITE  TTTM  BACK  —  THE  REAL  REASON 
WHY  RADISSON  RETURNED — THE  TREACHERY 
OF  STATECRAFT — YOUNG  CHOUART  OUTRAGED, 
NURSES  HIS  WRATH  AND  THERE  GAILY  COMES  ON 
THE    SCENE   MONSIEUR   PERE  —  SCOUT   AND    SPY 

THE  Hudson's  Bay  Adventurers  were  dazed 
by  the  sudden  eruption  of  Radisson  at 
Port  Nelson.  Their  traders  had  gone 
there  often  enough  to  have  learned  that  the  finest 
furs  came  from  the  farthest  North.  Here  was  a 
region  six  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  French 
bush-lopers,  who  came  overland  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence. Here  were  the  best  furs  and  the  most  numer- 
ous tribes  of  Indian  hunters.  Radisson  had  found 
Port  Nelson  for  them.  Now  he  had  snatched  the 
rich  prize  from  their  hands. 

Bad  news  travels  fast.  Those  refugees,  who  had 
been  shipped  by  the  French  to  the  Company's  posts 
at  the  south  of  the  bay,  reached  the  ships'  rendezvous 

180 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

at  Charlton  Island  in  time  to  return  to  England  by 
the  home-bound  vessels  of  1683.  Before  Radisson 
had  arrived  in  France,  Outlaw  and  the  other  refugees 
had  come  to  London.  The  embassies  of  France  and 
England  rang  With  what  was  called  "the  Radisson 
outrage."  John  Outlaw,  quondam  captain  for  Ben 
Gillam,  the  poacher,  took  oath  in  London,  on  No- 
vember 23,  of  all  that  Radisson  had  done  to  injure 
the  English,  and  he  swore  that  Groseillers  had 
showed  a  commission  from  the  Government  of 
France  for  the  raid.  Calvert,  Braddon,  Phineas  and 
those  seamen,  who  had  gone  up  Nelson  River  with 
Bridgar — ^gave  similar  evidence,  and  when  Bridgar, 
himself,  came  by  way  of  New  England,  the  clamor 
rose  to  such  heights  it  threatened  to  upset  the 
friendly  treaty  between  England  and  France.  Lord 
Preston,  England's  envoy  to  Paris,  was  besieged 
with  memorials  against  Radisson  for  the  French 
Government. 

"I  am  confirmed  in  our  worst  fears  by  the  news 
I  have  lately  received,"  wrote  Sir  James  Hayes  of 
the  Company,  "Monsieur  Radisson,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  action  at  Port  Nelson  is  arrived  in  France 
the  8th  of  this  month  (December,  1683)  in  a  man- 
of-war  from  Canada  and  is  in  all  posthaste  for 
Paris  to  induce  the  ministry  to  undermine  us  on 
Hudson's  Bay.    Nothing  can  mend  at  this  time  but 

181 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


to  get  His  Majesty's  order  through  my  Lord  Preston 
instantly  to  cause  ye  French  King  to  have  exemplary 
justice  done  upon  ye  said  Radisson." 

At  the  same  time,  Hayes  was  urging  Preston  to 
bribe  Radisson;  in  fact,  to  do  anylhing  to  bring 
him  back  to  the  service  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany. 

Radisson  and  Groseillers  had  meanwhile  reached 
Paris  only  to  find  that  the  great  statesman,  Colbert — 
on  whose  protection  they  had  relied — was  dead.  Fur 
traders  of  Quebec  had  the  ear  of  the  court — those 
monopolists,  who  had  time  and  again  robbed  them 
of  their  furs  under  pretense  of  collections  for  the 
revenue.  Both  Radisson  and  Groseillers  separately 
petitioned  the  court  for  justice.  If  De  la  Barre  had 
been  right  in  restoring  the  pirate  vessel  to  Ben  Gillam, 
what  right  had  he  to  seize  their  furs?  One  fourth 
for  revenue  did  not  mean  wholesale  confiscation. 
The  French  Court  retorted  that  Radisson  and  Gros- 
eillers had  gone  North  without  any  official  commis- 
sion. "True,"  answered  Groseillers  in  his  petition, 
"no  more  official  than  a  secret  verbal  commission 
such  as  Albanel  the  Jesuit  had,  when  he  came  to  us 
years  ago,  and  that  is  no  good  reason  why  we  should 
be  condemned  for  extending  French  dominion  and 
changing  Nelson's  name  to  Bourbon."    Radisson's 

182 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

petition  openly  stated  that  while  they  carried  no 
"ofEcial  commission,"  they  had  gone  North  by  the 
express  order  of  the  King,  and  that  the  voyage, 
itself,  was  sufficient  proof  of  their  zeal  for  France. 

King  Louis  was  in  a  quandary.  He  dare  not  offend 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  for  its  chief  share- 
holders were  of  the  English  court,  and  with  the 
English  Court,  Louis  XIV  had  a  secret  treaty.  To 
De  la  Barre  he  sent  a  furious  reprimand  for  having 
released  Gillam's  pirate  vessel.  "It  is  impossible  to 
imagine  what  your  conduct  meant,"  ran  the  reproof, 
"or  what  you  were  about  when  you  gave  up  the 
vessel  captured  by  Radisson  and  Groseillers,  which 
will  afford  the  English  proof  of  possession  at  Port 
Nelson.  I  am  unwilling  to  afford  the  King  of  England 
cause  of  complaint,"  he  explained,  "but  I  think  it 
important  to  prevent  the  English  establishing  them- 
selves on  Nelson  River."  In  brief,  according  to  the 
shifty  trickery  of  a  royal  code,  Radisson  was  to  be 
reprimanded  publicly  but  encouraged  privately. 
Groseillers  dropped  out  of  the  contest  disgusted. 
The  French  court  sent  for  Radisson.  He  was  ordered 
to  prepare  to  sail  again  to  the  bay  on  April  24, 
1684,  but  this  time,  Radisson  would  have  no  under- 
hand commission  which  fickle  statesmen  might 
repudiate.  He  demanded  restoration  of  his  con- 
fiscated furs  and  a  written  agreement  that  he  should 

183 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

have  equal  share  in  trading  profits.  The  Depart- 
ment of  the  Marine  haggled.  Preparations  went 
on  apace,  but  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  not 
idle.  Sir  James  Hayes  and  Sir  William  Young  and 
my  Lord  Preston — English  envoy  to  Paris — urged 
Radisson  to  come  back  to  England  on  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  threatened  rupture  of  the  treaty  with 
France  if  "condign  punishment"  were  not  visited  on 
the  same  men. 

It  is  here  what  historians  have  called  "Radisson's 
crowning  treachery"  takes  place.  "Prince  of  liars, 
traitors,  adventurers  and  bushrangers" — says  one 
writer.  "He  received  the  marked  displeasure  of  M. 
Colbert,"  explains  another,  though  Colbert  was 
dead.  "He  was  blamable  for  deserting  the  flag  of 
France:  the  first  time  we  might  pardon  him,  for  he 
was  the  victim  of  grave  injustice,  but  no  excuse  could 
justify  his  second  desertion.  He  had  none  to  offer. 
It  was  an  ineffaceable  stain,"  asserts  yet  another 
critic. 

In  a  word,  Radisson  suddenly  left  France  secretly 
and  appeared  in  England,  the  servant  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company.  Why  did  he  do  it?  Especially, 
why  did  he  do  it  without  any  business  agreement 
with  the  Company  as  to  what  his  rewards  were  to 
be?  Traitors  sell  themselves  for  a  quid  pro  quo,  but 
there  was  no  prospect  of  gain  in  Radisson's  case. 

184 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

His  own  journals  give  no  explanation.  I  confess  I 
had  always  thought  it  was  but  another  example  of 
the  hair-brained  enthusiast  mad  to  be  back  in  his 
native  element — the  wilds — and  shutting  his  eyes  to 
all  precautions  for  the  future.  It  was  not  till  I  had 
examined  the  state  papers  that  passed  between  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  France  that  I  found 
the  true  explanation  of  Radisson's  erratic  conduct. 
He  was  sent  for  by  the  Department  of  the  Marine, 
and  told  that  the  French  had  quit  all  open  preten- 
tions to  the  bay.  He  was  commanded  to  cross  to 
England  at  once  and  restore  Port  Nelson  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

"Openly?"  he  might  have  asked. 

Ah,  that  was  dififerent!  Not  openly,  for  an  open 
surrender  of  Port  Nelson  would  forever  dispose  of 
French  claims  to  the  bay.  All  Louis  XIV  now 
wanted  was  to  pacify  the  English  court  and  main- 
tain that  secret  treaty.  No,  not  openly;  but  he  was 
commanded  to  go  to  England  and  restore  Port  Nel- 
son as  if  it  were  of  his  own  free  will.  He  had  cap- 
tured it  without  a  commission.  Let  him  restore  it 
in  the  same  way.  But  Radisson  had  had  enough  of 
being  a  scapegoat  for  state  statecraft  and  double 
dealing.  He  demanded  written  authority  for  what 
he  was  to  do,  and  the  Department  of  Marine  placed 
this  commission  in  his  hands: 

185 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

"In  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  Differences  wh.  exist 
between  the  two  Nations  of  the  French  &  Enghsh  touch- 
ing the  Factory  or  Settlement  made  by  Messrs.  Groseillers 
and  Radisson  on  Hudson  Bay,  and  to  avoid  the  efusion 
of  blood  that  may  happen  between  the  sd.  two  nations, 
for  the  Preservation  of  that  place,  the  expedient  wch. 
appeared  most  reasonable  and  advantageous  for  the 
English  company  will,  that  the  sd.  Messrs.  De  Groseillers 
and  Radisson  return  to  the  sd.  Factory  or  habitation  fur- 
nished with  the  passport  of  the  English  Company,  import- 
ing that  they  shall  withdraw  the  French  wh.  are  in 
garrison  there  with  all  the  effects  belonging  to  them  in 
the  space  of  eighteen  months  to  be  accounted  from  the 
day  of  their  departure  by  reason  they  cannot  goe  and 
come  from  the  place  in  one  year.  .  .  .  The  said 
gentlemen  shall  restore  to  the  English  Company  the 
Factory  or  Habitation  by  them  settled  in  the  sd.  country 
to  be  thenceforward  enjoyed  by  the  English  company 
without  molestation.  As  to  the  indemnity  pretended  by 
the  English  for  effects  seized  and  brought  to  Quebec 
.  .  .  that  may  be  accomodated  in  bringing  back  the 
said  inventory  &  restoring  the  same  effects  or  their  value 
to  the  Enghsh  Proprietors." 

This,  then,  was  the  reason  for  Radisson  a  second 
time  deserting  the  French  flag.  He  was  compelled 
by  "the  statecraft"  of  Louis  XIV,  and  this  reason, 
as  a  man  of  honor,  he  could  not  reveal  in  his 
journals. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  1684,  Radisson  landed  in 
London.  He  was  welcomed  by  Sir  James  Hayes 
and  forthwith  carried  in  honor  to  Windsor,  where 

186 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

he  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  as  a  British  subject — a 
fealty  from  which  he  never  swerved  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  In  a  week,  he  was  ready  to  leave.  Three 
ships  sailed  this  year,  The  Happy  Return,  under 
Captain  Bond ;  The  Success,  under  Outlaw,  who  had 
been  with  Ben  Gillam,  and  a  little  sloop  called  The 
Adventure  for  inland  waters,  under  Captain  Geyer. 
Radisson  went  on  board  The  Happy  Return.  Gros- 
eillers  had  long  since  left  France  for  Quebec,  where 
he  settled  at  Three  Rivers  with  his  family.  Favor- 
able winds  carried  the  ships  forward  without  storm  or 
stop,  to  the  straits,  which  luckily  presented  open 
water.  Inside  the  bay,  ice  and  heavy  seas  separated 
the  vessels.  Sixty  miles  from  Port  Nelson  The 
Happy  Return  was  caught  and  held.  Fearing  that 
the  French  at  Nelson,  under  young  Chouart  Gros- 
eillers,  might  attack  the  English  if  the  other  ships 
arrived  first,  Radisson  asked  permission  of  Governor 
Phipps,  who  had  superseded  Bridgar,  to  take  seven  of 
the  crew  and  row  the  sixty  miles  ashore.  It  was  a 
daring  venture.  Ice  floes  were  tossing  in  a  heavy 
sea,  but  by  rowing  might  and  main,  portaging  over 
the  ice  where  the  way  was  blocked,  and  seeking 
shelter  on  the  lee  side  of  a  floe  when  the  wind  became 
too  rough,  Radisson  and  his  men  came  safely  to  Port 
Nelson  in  forty-eight  hours,  spending  only  one  night 
in  the  gig-boat  on  the  sea.     Radisson  was  amazed 

187 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  find  the  French  fort  on  Hayes  River  deserted. 
Indians  presently  told  him  the  reason.  Barely  had 
he  left  the  bay  the  year  before  when  the  annual 
frigate  of  the  English  company  came  to  port.  Young 
Chouart  Groseillers  trusted  to  the  loyalty  of  the  In- 
dians as  a  defense  against  the  English  till  he  learned 
that  the  savages  had  been  offered  a  barrel  of  gun- 
powder to  massacre  the  French.  Then  Chouart 
hastily  withdrew  up  Hayes  River  above  the  first 
rapids  to  the  camping  place  of  the  Assiniboines, 
whose  four  hundred  warriors  were  ample  protection. 
Young  Groseillers'  anger  at  the  turn  of  affairs 
knew  no  bounds.  In  his  fort  were  twelve  thousand 
beaver  skins  and  eight  thousand  other  pelts  of  the 
same  value  as  beaver.  To  the  expedition  the  year 
before,  he  had  contributed  ;^5oo  of  his  own  money, 
and  the  cargo  of  that  voyage  had  been  confiscated  at 
Quebec.  Now,  he  had  rich  store  of  pelts  to  com- 
pensate for  the  two  years'  toil,  and  by  the  order  of 
the  French  Government — a  secret  back-stairs,  treach- 
erous order  which  could  not  stand  daylight  and 
would  brand  him  as  a  renegade — he  was  to  turn  these 
furs  over  to  the  enemy.  The  young  man  was  furious, 
and  surrendered  his  charge  with  an  ill  grace.  Rad- 
isson  had  been  commissioned  to  offer  the  Frenchmen 
employment  in  the  English  Company  at  ;^ioo  a  year 
for  Chouart,  £50  for  Durvall,  Lamotte,  Greymaire 

188 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

and  the  rest.  They  heard  his  offer  in  sullen  silence, 
for  it  meant  they  must  forswear  allegiance  to  France. 
They  preferred  to  remain  free-lances  and  take  chances 
of  crossing  overland  to  Quebec  two  thousand  miles 
through  the  wilderness. 

Then  came  what  was  truly  the  crowning  treachery. 
A  square  deal  is  safest  in  the  long  run.  The  man  of 
double  dealing  forgets  that  he  often  compels  men, 
who  would  otherwise  deal  squarely,  to  meet  him 
on  his  own  ground — double  dealing;  to  stoop  to  the 
trickery  that  his  dishonesty  has  taught. 

Radisson  had  been  assured  that  the  Frenchmen 
left  in  Hudson  Bay  should  be  free  to  do  as  they 
wished,  or  if  they  joined  the  English  they  should  be 
well  treated ;  but  when  they  evinced  no  haste  to  be- 
come English  subjects.  Governor  Phipps  took  his 
own  counsel.  By  September,  a  new  fort  had  been 
built  on  Hayes  River  five  miles  from  the  mouth. 
The  Indians  had  come  down  stream  with  an  enor- 
mous trade  and  Radisson  had  made  a  treaty  of  peace 
between  them  and  the  English,  which  has  lasted  to 
this  day.  Finally,  the  cargo  of  beaver  was  on  board 
The  Happy  Return.  Sailors  were  chanting  their 
singsong  as  they  ran  round  the  capstan  bars  heaving 
up  anchor  on  September  the  4th,  when  Governor 
Phipps  suddenly  summoned  a  final  council  on  board 
the  decks  of  The  Happy  Return.    To  this  council 

189 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

came  the  unsuspecting  Frenchmen  from  the  shore. 
Three — as  it  happened — had  gone  to  the  woods,  but 
young  Groseillers  and  the  rest  clambered  up  the 
accommodation  ladder  for  last  orders.  No  sooner 
were  they  on  board,  than  sails  were  run  out.  The 
Happy  Return  spread  her  wings  to  the  wind  and  was 
off  for  England  carrying  the  unwilling  Frenchmen 
passengers. 

In  a  trice,  hands  were  on  pistols  and  swords  out, 
but  Radisson  besought  the  outraged  Frenchmen  to 
restrain  their  anger.  What  was  their  strength 
against  an  armed  crew  of  ruffians  only  too  glad  of 
a  scuffle  to  put  them  all  to  the  sword?  It  was  a 
sullen,  sad  home-coming  for  the  adventurer.  Uncle 
and  nephew  were  scarcely  on  speaking  terms,  and 
the  trick  of  Governor  Phipps  must  have  opened 
Radisson's  eyes  to  the  treatment  he  might  expect 
now  that  he  was  completely  in  the  power  of  the 
English.  The  boat  reached  Portsmouth  on  Octo- 
ber 23.  Not  waiting  for  coach,  Radisson  took  horse 
and  rode  fast  and  furious  to  London.  He  was  at 
once  taken  before  the  Company.  He  was  publicly 
thanked  for  his  services,  presented  with  a  set  of 
silver  and  given  a  present  of  a  hundred  guineas. 
He  became  the  lion  of  the  hour.  Nor  did  he  forget 
his  French  confreres.  The  committee  at  once  voted 
each  of  the  Frenchmen  twenty  shillings  a  week  for 

190 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

pocket  money  and  ordered  their  board  paid.  Later, 
Mr.  Radisson  is  authorized  to  offer  them  salaries 
ranging  from  ;£ioo  a  year  to  £50  if  they  will  join 
the  Company.  But  they  are  in  no  haste  to  join  the 
Company,  and  strangely,  when  they  evince  intentions 
of  going  across  to  France — a  thousand  obstructions 
arise  as  out  of  the  ground.  They  are  watched — even 
threatened;  politely,  of  course,  but  threatened  with 
arrest.  Some  suave-tongued  gentleman  points  out  an 
advantageous  marriage  that  young  Chouart  might 
make  with  some  well-dowered  English  belle,  like 
his  Uncle  Radisson,  who  had  married  Mary  Kirke. 
Monsieur  Chouart  shrugs  his  shoulders.  He  hasn't 
a  very  high  opinion  of  the  way  Radisson  has  man- 
aged his  marriage  affairs. 

But  when  they  find  that  they  can  gain  their  liberty 
in  no  other  way,  these  young  French  knights  of  the 
wilderness,  they  accept  service  in  the  English  com- 
pany to  be  sent  to  the  bay  forthwith,  and  take  out 
"papers  of  denizen ation,"  which  can  be  broken  with 
less  damage  to  conscience  than  an  oath  of  fealty  and 
the  forswearing  of  France.  And  all  the  while,  they 
are  burning  with  rage  that  bodes  ill  for  Governor 
Phipps'  trick  on  the  deck  of  The  Happy  Return, 
Letters  came  from  France  to  Chouart,  letters  from  one 
Duluth,  who  is  pushing  north  from  Lake  Superior; 
letters  from  one  Comport^,  who  has  offered  to  go 

191 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

overland  and  ''wipe  the  English  from  the  bay"; 
messages  from  a  bush-loper,  one  Pere,  who  is  useful 
to  the  king  of  France  as  a  spy.  To  Comporte, 
Chouart  writes:  "/  am  not  at  liberty  to  do  as  I  wish. 
All  the  advantages  offered  do  not  for  a  moment  cause 
me  to  waver.  I  shall  be  happy  to  meet  you  by  the 
route  you  travel.  I  will  perish  or  be  at  the  place  you 
desire  me  to  go.  It  is  saying  enough.  I  will  keep 
my  word.^^  To  his  mother  at  Three  Rivers,  the 
young  Frenchman  confesses:  "Orders  have  been 
given  to  arrest  me  if  I  try  to  leave.  I  will  cause  it  to 
be  known  in  France  that  I  never  wished  to  follow  the 
English.  I  will  abandon  this  nation.  I  have  been 
forced  here  by  my  Uncle's  subterfuges.  See  M. 
Duluth  in  my  behalf  and  M.  Pere  and  all  our  good 
friends.''  "All  our  good  friends,"  are  the  bush- 
rangers who  are  working  overland  north  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  intercept  the  trade  of  Hudson  Bay — 
especially  ''Mons.  Pere." 

And  the  same  French  Government  that  has  com- 
pelled Radisson  to  go  back  to  England,  issues  orders 
to  the  Governor  of  New  France — M.  de  Denonville, 
"to  arrest  Radisson  wherever  he  may  be  found," 
"to  reward  young  Groseillers  if  he  will  desert  from 
Hudson's  Bay,"  and  "to  pay  fifty  pistolles"  to  any 
man  who  seizes  Radisson.  And  the  reason  for  this 
duplicity  of  statecraft?    Plain  enough.     The  Stuart 

192 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

throne  is  tottering  in  England.  When  it  falls,  there 
falls  also  the  secret  treaty  with  France.  His  Most 
Christian  Majesty  does  not  wish  to  relinquish  claim 
to  one  foot  of  ground  in  the  North,  and  well  might  he 
not — it  was  an  empire  as  large  as  half  Europe. 

Meantime,  the  Company  was  proceeding  on  the 
even  tenor  of  its  ways.  Dividends  of  50  per  cent, 
were  paid  in  '83,  the  same  in  '84,  despite  intercep- 
tion of  furs  by  the  French  overlanders.  In  the  suit 
for  loss  by  the  owners  of  Ben  Gillam's  ship,  the 
Company  had  emerged  triumphant — its  monopoly 
vindicated,  and  in  1684,  Captain  Walker  of  the 
south  coast  coming  out  of  the  bay  on  The  Diligence^ 
captured  another  pirate  ship,  Tlie  Expectation,  whose 
owners  again  tested  the  Company's  claim  to  exclusive 
trade  on  the  bay,  by  a  lawsuit;  and  again  the  Com- 
pany came  out  a  victor — its  monopoly  justified  by 
the  courts.  Three  of  the  ships — Happy  Return^ 
Captain  Bond;  Owners^  Good  Will,  Captain  Lucas, 
and  Success,  Captain  Outlaw — were  yearly  chartered 
from  Sir  Stephen  Evance,  a  rich  goldsmith,  who 
had  become  a  heavy  shareholder  in  the  Company. 
Besides  these,  there  were  The  Perpeluana  Merchatit, 
Captain  Hume,  with  Smithsend  as  mate;  The  Dili- 
gence, Captain  Walker;  the  sloop  Adventure,  Captain 
Geyer.  and  one  frigate ;  in  all  a  fleet  of  seven  vessels, 

193 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

each  carrying  from  twelve  to  twenty  men  plying  to 
and  from  the  bay.  It  was  in  1686  that  the  sloop 
was  sent  north  of  Nelson  to  Churchill  River,  named 
after  the  great  General — to  open  trade  on  the  river 
where  Munck's  Danes  had  suffered  such  frightful 
disaster.  About  this  time,  too,  poor  London  boys 
began  to  go  out  as  apprentices — scullions,  valets, 
general  knockabouts — among  whom  was  one  Henry 
Kelsey  engaged  at  £8  a  year,  and  his  keep  for  Port 
Nelson.  When  James,  Duke  of  York,  became  king, 
the  position  of  governor  of  the  Company  was  vacated, 
and  Sir  James  Hayes,  who  seems  always  to  have 
been  the  Company's  emissary  in  all  court  matters,  is 
directed  by  the  governing  committee  ^Ho  bespeak 
the  Lord  John  Churchill  to  dynner  at  ye  Rummor 
Tavernne  in  Queen's  Street"  on  business  for  the 
company's  very  great  interests.  What  that  business 
was  became  evident  at  the  General  Court  of  the 
Adventurers  called  on  April  2,  1685,  when  my 
Lord  Churchill  is  elected  governor  by  unanimous 
ballot.  Phipps  remains  at  Nelson  as  local  governor, 
Sargeant  at  Albany,  Nixon  at  Moose.  Bridgar  has 
been  transferred  to  Rupert  River,  not  important 
now,  because  the  French  are  luring  the  Indians 
away,  and  Radisson  is  general  superintendent  of 
all  trade,  spending  the  winters  in  London  to  arrange 
the  furs  for  sale  and  to  choose  the  outgoing  cargoes, 

194 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 

going  each  summer  to  the  bay  to  barter  with  the 
Indians. 

Notes  on  Chapter  X. — With  the  exception  of  the  two  petitions 
filed  by  Radisson  and  Groseillers  in  France,  and  of  young 
Groseillers'  letters — all  the  contents  of  this  chapter  are  drawn 
from  the  official  records  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  House.  Young 
Groseillers,  by  the  way,  is  usually  called  Jean  Baptiste,  but  as 
he  signs  himself  Chouart  I  have  referred  to  him  by  that  name. 

The  real  reason  why  Radisson  came  back  to  England  is  so 
new  to  history  that  I  have  given  the  instructions  of  the  French 
Government  in  full.  Radisson  refers  to  these  instructions  in 
his  affidavit  of  1697,  a  document — which  for  State  reasons — has 
never  been  given  to  the  public  till  now.  The  State  reasons  will 
become  plainer  as  the  record  goes  on.  Both  governments  were 
lying  to  sustain  fictitious  claims  for  damages.  Herewith  in  part, 
is  Radisson's  affidavit,  taken  before  Sir  Robert  Jcffery,  Aug. 
23,  1697,  left  with  the  English  commissioners  of  claims  against 
France  the  5th  of  June,  1699: 

"Peter  Esprit  Radisson  of  the  Parish  of  St.  James  in  the 
County  of  Middlesex  Esqr.  aged  sixty-one  years  or  thereabouts 
maketh  oath  that  he  came  into  England  in  the  year  1665  And 
in  the  year  1672  married  one  of  the  Daughters  of  Sir  John 
Kirke  And  in  the  year  1667  this  deponent  with  his  Brother  in 
law  Medard  Chouart  De  Groseilier  were  designed  for  a  voyage 
in  the  service  of  the  English  to  Hudson  Bay,  which  they  under- 
took, this  deponent  going  on  board  the  snip  Eagle  then  com- 
manded by  one  Captain  Wm.  Stanard  was  hindered  being  dis- 
abled at  sea  by  bad  weather,  soe  could  not  compleate  the  sd. 
intended  Voyage,  But  the  sd.  Grosilier  proceeded  in  another 
English  ship  called  the  Nonsuch  and  arrived  in  the  Bottom  of 
Hudson's  Bay  on  a  certaine  River  then  which  Capt.  Zachary 
Gillam  commander  of  the  sd.  ship  .  .  .  then  named  Rupert 
River  in  Honor  of  His  Highness  Prince  Rupert  who  was  chiefly 
interested  in  that  expedition.  .  .  .  And  this  deponent 
alsoe  saith  that  in  the  year  1668  He  went  from  England  .  . 
to  another  voyage  to  Port  Nelson  on  an  English  ship  called  the 
Wavero  but  was  also  obstructed  .  .  .  and  at  his  retume 
found  the  sd.  Grossilicr  safely  arrived  .  .  .  and  in  the 
year  1669  this  deponent  went  on  the  sd.  ship  the  Wavcro  com- 
manded by  Captain  Newland  &  arrived  at  Port  Nelson  .  . 
and  in  the  year  1670  the  sd.  Grosilier  was  sent  in  an  English 
Barke  to  Port  Nelson  .  .  .  and  in  the  year  1673  tnere 
arising  some  difference  between  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
of  England  &  this  deponent,  this  deponent  went  unto  France 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


.  .  .  and  in  the  year  1682  there  were  two  Barkes  fitted  out 
at  Canada  .  .  .  sailed  to  Hudson's  Bay  and  arrived  on 
Hayes  River  .  .  .  and  took  Port  Nelson  and  an  English 
vessel  which  came  from  New  England  commanded  by  one  Benj. 
Gillam  .  .  .  and  gave  the  name  of  Bourbon  to  the  said 
Port  Nelson  .  .  .  and  in  the  year  1683  he  came  from 
Canada  to  Paris  by  order  of  Monsr.  Colbert,  who  soone  after 
dyed.  And  this  deponent  being  at  Paris  was  there  informed 
that  the  Lord  Preston,  Ambassador  of  the  King  of  England  had 
given  in  a  Memoriall  .  .  .  against  this  Deponent  And 
after  this  deponent  had  been  several  times  with  the  Marquis  de 
Seignlay  &  Monsr.  Calliere  (one  of  the  Plenipotentiaries  at  the 
Treaty  of  Peace)  this  Deponent  found  that  the  French  had 
quitted  all  pretences  to  Hudson  Bay,  And  thereupon  in  the 
year  1684  in  the  month  of  Aprill,  this  deponent  by  the  special 
direction  of  the  sd.  Monsr.  Calliere  did  write  the  papers  here- 
unto annexed  ...  "  (there  follow  the  instructions  to 
return  to  England  as  given  in  the  text)  .  .  .  "which  the 
sd.  Monsr.  Calliere  dictated  .  .  .  and  the  sd.  Monsr.  Calliere 
acted  in  the  sd.  affaire  by  the  directions  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Marine  affairs  in  France.  .  .  .  And  the  deponent  was 
commanded  by  the  sd.  Monsr.  Calliere  ...  to  goe  to  Port 
Nelson  to  withdraw  the  French  from  thence,  And  to  restore 
the  same  to  the  English  who — he  sd. — should  be  satisfied  for 
the  wrong  &  damages  done  them  by  this  deponent  .  .  .  and 
this  deponent  went  in  one  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  ships 
to  Port  Nelson  and  withdrew  the  French  that  were  there  from 
that  Place,  and  the  sd.  Place  was  then  put  into  possession  of 
the  English  .  .  .  and  the  French  that  withdrew  were 
brought  unto  England     .... 

(Signed)  Pierre  Esprit  Radisson  London.'- 
August  1697. 

Those  who  wish  a  more  detailed  account  of  Radisson  will 
find  it  in  Pathfinders  of  the  West.  Chouart's  letter  will  be  found 
in  the  appendix  of  the  same  volume.  Documents  Relatifs  a  la 
NouveUe  France,"  Tome  I  (1492-17 12),  contains  the  petitions 
filed  by  Radisson  and  Groseillers  in  France. 

It  has  been  almost  a  stock  criticism  of  the  shallow  now- 
adays to  say  that  an  author  has  rejected  original  authorities, 
if  the  author  refers  to  printed  records,  or  to  charge  that  the 
author  has  ignored  secondary  authorities,  if  the  writer  refers 
only  to  original  documents.  I  may  say  that  I  have  not  de- 
pended on  secondary  authorities  in  the  case  of  Radisson,  because 
to  refer  to  them  would  be  to  point  out  inaccuracies  in  every 
second  line — an  tmgrateful  task.     But  I  have  consulted  and 

196 


The  Adventurers  Furious  at  Radisson 


possess  in  my  own  library  every  book  that  has  ever  been  printed 
on  the  early  history  of  the  Northwest.  As  for  original  docu- 
ments, I  spent  six  months  in  London  on  records  whose  dust  had 
not  been  disturbed  since  they  were  written  in  the  sixteen- 
hundreds.  The  herculean  nature  of  this  laborious  task  can  best 
be  understood  when  it  is  realized  that  these  records  are  not 
open  to  the  public  and  it  is  impossible  to  have  an  assistant 
do  the  copying.  The  transcripts  had  to  be  done  by  myself, 
and  revised  by  an  assistant  at  night. 


197 


CHAPTER  XI 

1685-1686 

WHEREIN  THE  REASONS  FOR  YOUNG  CHOUART  GROS- 
EttLERS'  MYSTERIOUS  MESSAGE  TO  OUR  GOOD 
FRIEND  "PERE"  ARE  EXPLAINED — THE  FOREST 
ROVERS  OF  NEW  FRANCE  RAID  THE  BAY  BY  SEA 
AND  LAND — TWO  SHIPS  SUNK — PERE,  THE  SPY, 
SEIZED  AND  SENT  TO  ENGLAND 

IT  IS  now  necessary  to  follow  the  fleet  of  seven 
ships — four  large  frigates,  three  sloops  for 
inland  waters — to  the  bay.  Radisson  goes  as 
general  superintendent  with  Captain  Bond  and  Cap- 
tain Lucas  to  Nelson — the  port  farthest  north.  In 
these  ships,  too,  go  young  Chouart  Groseillers  and 
his  French  companions,  bound  for  four  years  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  albeit  they  have  received 
and  sent  mysterious  messages  to  and  from  "our 
good  friend,  Monsieur  Jan  Pere,"  of  Quebec,  swear- 
ing they  will  meet  him  at  some  secret  rendezvous 
or  "perish  in  the  attempt."  What  Chouart  Gros- 
eillers and  his  friends — sworn  to  serve  the  English 
company — mean  by  secret  oaths  to  meet  French 
bush-rovers    from    Quebec — remains    to   be   seen. 

198 


Reasons  for  Groseiller's  Message  Explained 

Young  Mike  Grimmington  is  second  mate  on  Captain 
Outlaw's  ship,  The  Success,  destined  for  the  fort 
south  of  Nelson — Albany,  where  bluff  old  Governor 
Sargcant  holds  sway  from  his  bastioned  stronghold 
on  the  island  at  the  mouth  of  Albany  River.  Brid- 
gar — quondam  governor  at  Nelson — now  goes  with 
the  small  sloops  bound  for  the  bottom  of  the  bay — 
— Moose  and  Charlton  Island  and  Rupert  River. 

No  Robin  Hoods  of  legendary  lore  ever  lived  in 
more  complete  security  than  the  Gentlemen  Adven- 
turers of  Hudson  Bay.  Radisson — the  one  man  to 
be  feared  as  a  rival — had  been  compelled  by  the 
French  Court  to  join  them.  So  had  his  followers. 
The  forts  on  the  bay  seemed  immune  from  attack. 
To  the  south,  a  thousand  miles  of  juniper  swamp 
and  impassable  cataracts  separated  the  English  fur 
traders  from  the  fur  traders  of  New  France.  To 
the  west,  was  impenetrable,  unknown  wilderness. 
To  the  north,  the  realm  of  iron  cold.  The  Adven- 
turers of  Hudson  Bay  slumbered  secure  on  the 
margin  of  their  frozen  sea.  Rupert  and  Moose — 
the  forts  of  the  south — yearly  collected  5,000  beaver 
pelts  each,  not  counting  as  many  again  of  other  rare 
furs.  Albany — ^where  the  bay  turns  north — gave  a 
yearly  quota  of  3,500,  and  Nelson  sent  out  as  much  as 
$100,000  worth  of  beaver  in  a  single  year.    The 

199 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Adventurers  had  found  a  gold  mine  rich  as  Spanish 
Eldorado. 

To  be  sure,  the  French  fur  traders,  who  had  been 
led  to  the  bay  by  Radisson  once,  would  now  be  able 
to  find  the  way  there  for  themselves,  but  the  French 
fur  traders  demanded  four  beavers  in  barter  where 
the  English  asked  only  two,  and  two  French  ships 
that  had  come  up  under  Lamartiniere  commissioned 
"to  seize  Radisson,"  could  neither  find  Radisson 
nor  an  Indian  who  would  barter  them  a  single  pelt. 
They  dare  not  land  at  Nelson,  for  it  was  now  Eng- 
lish. Reefing  sails,  Lamartiniere' s  ships  spent  the 
summer  of  '85  dodging  the  ice  floes  and  hiding 
round  Digges'  Island  at  the  inside  end  of  the  straits 
for  reasons  that  young  Chouart  Groseillers  might 
have  explained  if  he  would. 

It  was  July  before  the  fleet  of  Hudson's  Bay  boats 
reached  the  straits.  Ice  jam  and  tide-rip  had 
presently  scattered  the  fleet.  As  usual,  the  smaller 
vessels  showed  their  heels  to  danger  and  slipping 
along  the  lee  edge  of  the  floes,  came  to  the  open  water 
of  the  bay  first.  The  Happy  Return,  under  Captain 
Bond  with  Monsieur  Radisson,  Monsieur  Chouart 
and  his  comrades;  The  Success,  under  Captain  Out- 
law; The  Merchant  Perpetuana,  under  Captain 
Hume,  with  mates  Smithsend  and  Mike  Grimming- 
ton  looking  anxiously  over  decks  at  the  tumult  of 

200 


Reasons  for  Groseiller's  Message  Explained 

ramming  ice  that  swept  past — came  worming  their 
way  laboriously  through  the  ice  floes,  small  sails  only 
out,  grappling  irons  hooked  to  the  floating  icepans, 
cables  of  iron  strength  hauling  and  pulling  the  frigates 
up  to  the  ice,  with  crews  out  to  their  armpits  in  ice 
slush  ready  to  loose  and  sheer  from  the  danger  of 
undertow  when  the  tide  ripple  came. 

On  July  27,  with  the  crews  forespent  and  the 
ships  badly  battered,  the  three  emerged  on  the  open 
water  of  Hudson  Bay  and  steered  to  rest  for  the 
night  under  shelter  of  the  rocky  shores  off  Digges' 
Island.  Like  ghosts  from  the  gloom,  shadows  took 
form  in  the  night  mist — two  ships  with  foreign  sails 
on  this  lonely  sea,  where  all  other  ships  were  for- 
bidden. In  a  trice,  the  deathly  silence  of  the  sea  is 
broken  by  the  roar  of  cannonading.  It  is  Monsieur 
Radisson,  on  whose  head  there  is  a  price,  who 
realizes  the  situation  first  and  with  a  shout  that  they 
are  trapped  by  French  raiders — by  Lamartini^re — 
bids  Captain  Bond  flee  for  his  life.  Captain  Bond 
needs  no  urgings.  The  Happy  Return's  sails  are 
out  like  the  wings  of  a  frightened  bird  and  she  is  off 
like  a  terrified  quarry  pursued  by  a  hawk.  Nor  does 
Captain  Outlaw  on  The  Success  wait  for  argument. 
With  all  candles  instantly  put  out,  he,  too,  steers  for 
the  hiding  of  darkness  on  open  water.  The  Per- 
petuana  is  left  alone  wedged  between  Lamartini^re's 

201 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

two  French  ships.  Hooked  gang  planks  seize  her 
on  both  sides  in  a  death  grapple.  Captain  Hume, 
Mates  Smithsend  and  Mike  Grimmington  with  half 
a  dozen  others  are  surrounded,  overpowered,  dis- 
armed, fettered  and  clapped  under  hatches  of  the 
victorious  ships.  Before  morning,  The  Perpetuana 
had  been  scuttled  of  her  cargo.  Fourteen  of  her 
crew  have  been  bayoneted  and  thrown  overboard. 
A  month  later,  cargo  and  vessel  and  captives  are  re- 
ceived with  acclaim  at  Quebec.  Captain  Hume  is 
sent  home  to  France  in  December  on  a  man-of-war 
to  lie  in  a  dungeon  of  Rochelle  till  he  can  obtain 
ransom.  So  are  Mr.  Richard  Alio  and  Andrew 
Stuckey — seamen.  The  rest  are  to  lie  in  the  cells 
below  Chateau  St.  Louis,  Quebec,  on  fare  of  bread 
and  water  for  six  months.  Mike  Grimmington  is 
held  and  "tortured"  to  compel  him  to  betray  the 
secrets  of  navigation  at  the  different  harbors  of 
Hudson  Bay,  but  Mate  Grimmington  tells  no  tales; 
for  he  learns  that  rumors  of  raid  are  in  the  air  at 
Quebec.  Though  England  and  France  are  at  peace, 
the  fur  traders  of  Quebec  are  asking  commission  for 
one  Chevalier  de  Troyes  with  the  brothers  of  the 
family  Le  Moyne,  to  raid  the  bay,  fire  the  forts, 
massacre  the  English.  Smithsend  by  secret  mes- 
senger sends  a  letter  with  warnings  of  the  designs  to 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  England,  and  Smith- 

202 


Reasons  for  Groseiller's  Message  Explained 

send  for  his  pains  is  sold  with  his  comrades  into 
slavery  in  Martinique,  whence  he  escapes  before 
spring.  Grimmington  is  held  prisoner  for  two  years 
before  a  direct  order  from  the  French  Court  sets  him 
free.  Other  things,  Grimmington  hears  in  Quebec 
of  the  French  on  the  bay. 

All  unsuspecting  of  plots  at  Quebec  and  pirate 
attacks  on  the  Company's  ships,  the  governors  of  the 
different  forts  on  the  bay  awaited  the  coming  of  the 
ships.  From  July,  it  was  customary  to  keep  harbor 
lights  out  on  the  sand-bars,  and  station  sentinels  day 
and  night  to  watch  for  the  incoming  fleet.  Secret 
codes  of  signals  had  been  left  the  year  before  with  the 
forts.  If  the  incoming  ships  did  not  display  these 
signals,  the  sentinels  were  ordered  to  cut  the  harbor 
buoys,  put  out  the  lights,  and  give  the  alarm.  If  the 
signals  were  correct,  cannon  roared  a  welcome,  flags 
were  run  up,  and  pilots  went  out  in  small  boats  to 
guide  the  ships  in  through  sand-bars  and  bowlder 
reefs. 

At  Albany,  Governor  Sargeant,  whose  wife  and 
family  were  now  with  him  at  the  fort — had  ordered 
a  sort  of  lookout,  or  crow's-nest,  built  of  scaffolding, 
on  a  hill  above  the  fort.  As  far  as  known,  not  a 
single  Englishman  had  up  to  this  time  penetrated 
the  wilds  west  of  the  bay.  One  Robert  Sanford 
had  been  ordered  this  very  year  to  "j:;o  up  into  the 

203 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


country,"  but  fear  of  French  bush-rovers  made  him 
report  that  such  a  course  was  very  unsafe.  It  would 
be  wiser  and  safer  for  the  Company  to  give  hand- 
some presents  to  the  Indian  chiefs.  This  would 
induce  them  to  bring  their  tribes  down  to  the  bay. 
So  the  sentinel  at  Albany  could  hardly  believe  his 
senses  one  morning  when  from  the  eerie  height  of 
his  lookout  he  espied  three  men — three  white  men, 
steering  a  canoe  down  the  swift,  tumultuous  current 
of  the  rain-swollen  river.  They  were  coming  not 
from  the  sea,  but  from  the  Upcountry.  This  was 
a  contingency  the  cutting  of  harbor  buoys  had  not 
provided  against.  The  astounded  sentinel  ran  to 
Sargeant  with  the  alarm.  Cannon  were  manned 
and  Governor  Sargeant  took  his  stand  in  the  gate 
of  the  palisaded  walls. 

Beaching  their  canoe,  the  three  white  men  marched 
jauntily  up  to  the  governor.  The  shaggy  eyes  of 
the  bluff  old  governor  took  in  the  fact  that  the 
newcomers  were  French — Frenchmen  dressed  as 
bush-lopers,  but  with  the  manners  of  gentlemen, 
introducing  themselves  with  the  debonair  gayety  of 
their  race.  Monsieur  Pere,  Monsieur  Coultier  de 
Comport^  and  a  third,  whose  name  is  lost  to  the 
records.  Old  Governor  Sargeant  scratched  his  burly 
beard.  England  and  France  were  at  peace,  very 
much  at  peace  when  France  had  sent  Radisson  back; 

204 


Reasons  for  Groseillefs  Message  Explained 

and  he  must  treat  the  visitors  with  courtesy;  but 
what  were  gentlemen  doing  dressed  as  bush-rovers? 
Hunting — taking  their  pleasure  where  they  found 
it — knights  of  the  wildwoods — says  my  good  friend, 
Jan  Pere,  doffing  his  fur  capote  with  a  bow.  Gov- 
ernor Sargeant  hails  good  friend  Pere  into  the  fort, 
to  a  table  loaded  with  game  and  good  wine  and  the 
hospitality  of  white  men  lonely  for  companionship 
as  a  sail  at  sea.  The  wine  passes  freely  and  stories 
pass  freely,  stories  of  the  hunt  and  the  voyage  and  of 
Monsieur  Radisson  and  his  friends,  whom  the  Gov- 
ernor expects  back  this  year — soon,  very  soon,  any 
day  now  the  ships  may  come. 

But  at  base,  every  Hudson's  Bay  Company  man 
is  a  trader.  Governor  Sargeant  evincing  no  zealous 
desire  to  extend  his  hospitality  longer.  Monsieur 
P^r^  tactfully  evinces  no  desire  to  stay.  The  gay 
adventurers  aver  they  are  going  to  coast  along  the 
shore — that  alkali  shore  between  the  main  coast  of 
cedar  swamps  and  the  outer  reef  of  bowlders — 
where  good  sport  among  feathered  game  is  to  be  ex- 
pected. Once  they  are  out  of  sight  from  Albany,  the 
three  Frenchmen  rest  on  their  paddles  and  confer. 
They  had  not  counted  on  leaving  quite  so  soon. 
Still  gay  as  schoolboys  on  an  escapade,  that  night 
as  they  sleep  on  shore  under  the  stars,  they  take  good 
care  to  leave  their  canoe  so  that  the  high  tide  carries 

205 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

it  out  to  sea.  What  is  to  be  done  now — a  thousand 
miles  by  swamp  from  the  nearest  French  fort? 
Presto— go  back  to  the  English  fort,  of  course;  and 
back  they  trudge  to  Albany  with  their  specious  farce 
of  misadventure. 

Meanwhile,  Outlaw  on  The  Success,  had  arrived  at 
Albany  with  the  tale  of  Lamartiniere's  raid  and  the 
loss  of  The  Perpetuana.  Before  Monsieur  Jan 
Per6  can  feign  astonishment — he  is  dumfounded  at 
the  news,  is  Monsieur  Pere — Governor  Sargeant  has 
clapped  irons  on  his  wrists  and  irons  on  his  feet. 
The  fair-tongued  spy  is  cast  manacled  into  the  bas- 
tion that  served  as  prison  at  Albany,  and  his  two 
comrades  are  transported  across  to  Charlton  Island 
to  earn  their  living  hunting  till  they  have  learned  that 
no  one  may  tamper  with  the  fur  trade  of  the  English 
adventurers.  What  welcome  Chouart  Groseillers 
and  his  French  comrades  received— is  not  told  in 
Hudson's  Bay  annals.  They  go  north  to  Nelson 
for  the  next  four  years,  then  drop  from  the  pay  lists 
of  the  Company,  and  reappear  as  fur  traders  of  New 
France.  It  would  hardly  be  stretching  historic  fact 
to  infer  that  these  daring  French  youths  took  to  the 
tall  timbers. 

Over  on  Charlton  Island,  Pere's  comrades  hunted 
as  to  the  wildwoods  born;  hunted  so  diligently  that 
by  September  they  had  store  enough  of  food  to  stock 

206 


Reasons  for  Groseiller's  Message  Explained 

them  for  the  winter.  By  September  the  boats  that 
met  at  Charlton  Island  had  sailed.  No  one  was  left 
to  watch  the  Frenchmen.  They  hastily  constructed 
for  themselves  a  large  canoe,  loaded  it  with  their 
provisions,  set  out  under  cover  of  night  and  reached 
the  south  shore  of  James  Bay,  keeping  well  away  from 
Moose  and  Rupert  River.  Then  they  paddled  for 
life  upstream  toward  New  France.  By  October, 
ice  formed,  cutting  the  canoe.  They  killed  a 
moose,  cured  the  buckskin  above  punk  smoke,  made 
themselves  snowshoes  and  marched  overland  seven 
hundred  miles  to  the  French  fort  at  Michilimackinac. 
Word  ran  like  wildfire  from  Lake  Superior  to  Quebec 
— Jan  Per6  was  held  in  prison  at  Albany.  These 
were  the  rumors  Mike  Grimmington  and  Richard 
Smithsend  heard  from  their  prison  cells  under 
Chateau  St.  Louis.  If  these  two  spies  can  march 
overland  in  midwinter,  cannot  a  band  of  bush-rovers 
march  overland  to  the  rescue  of  Pere?  France  and 
England  are  at  peace;  but  Albany  holds  F6t6  in 
prison,  and  Quebec  holds  Mike  Grimmington  and 
Smithsend  in  the  cellar  of  the  Chateau  St.  Louis. 

Up  on  the  bay,  old  Sargeant  was  puzzled  what 
to  do  with  P6r^.  All  told,  there  were  only  eighty- 
nine  men  on  Hudson  Bay  at  this  time.  It  was  de- 
cided that  Outlaw  should  remain  for  the  winter  with 

207 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Sargeant,  but  take  Pere  up  to  Captains  Bond  and 
Lucas  at  Nelson  to  be  shipped  home  to  England, 
where  the  directors  could  decide  on  his  fate.  On 
October  27,  Bond  and  Lucas  arrived  in  London, 
and  on  October  29,  the  minutes  of  the  Company 
report  "one  Monsieur  Jan  Pere  sent  home  by  Gov- 
ernor Sargeant  as  a  French  spy."  The  full  report 
of  The  Perpettmna^s  loss  was  laid  before  the  Company 
on  the  30th.  On  November  4,  Monsieur  Pere  is 
examined  by  a  committee.  Within  a  week  the  suave 
spy  suffers  such  a  change  of  heart,  he  applies  on 
November  11  for  the  privilege  of  joining  the  Com- 
pany. Before  the  Company  have  given  answer  to 
that  request,  comes  a  letter  from  Captain  Hume 
dated  December  13,  Rochelle,  France,  giving  a 
full  account  of  the  wreck  of  The  Perpetunna,  the 
indignities  suffered  at  Quebec,  stating  that  he  is  in 
a  dungeon  awaiting  the  Company's  ransom.  Cap- 
tain Hume  is  ordered  to  pay  what  ransom  is  neces- 
sary and  come  to  England  at  once,  but  it  is  manifest 
that  the  French  spy,  Jan  Pere,  must  be  held  for  the 
safety  of  the  other  English  prisoners  at  Quebec. 
The  Company  lodges  a  suit  of  £5,000  damages  against 
him,  which  will  keep  Pere  in  gaol  till  he  can  find 
bail,  and  when  he  sends  word  to  know  the  reason 
for  such  outrage,  the  minutes  of  the  Company  glibly 
put  on  record  "that  he  hath  damnified  the  company 

208 


Reasons  for  Groseiller's  Message  Explained 

very  considerably."  Unofl&cially,  he  is  told  that  the 
safety  of  his  life  depends  on  the  safety  of  those  Eng- 
lish prisoners  held  at  Quebec.  In  January  arrives 
Captain  Hume,  putting  on  record  his  affidavit  of  the 
wreck  of  The  Perpetuana.  In  February,  1686, 
comes  that  letter  from  Smithsend  which  he  smuggled: 
out  of  his  prison  in  Quebec,  "ye  contents  to  be  kept 
private  and  secret,''^  warning  the  Company  that- 
raiders  are  leaving  Canada  overland  for  the  bay. 
By  March,  Jan  Pere  is  on  his  knees  to  join  the  Com-, 
pany.  The  Company  lets  him  stay  on  his  knees  in 
prison.  All  is  bustle  at  Hudson's  Bay  House  fitting 
out  frigates  for  the  next  summer.  Eighteen  extra 
men  are  to  be  sent  to  Albany,  twelve  to  Moose,  six  to 
Rupert.  Monsieur  Radisson  is  instructed  to  inspect 
the  large  guns  sent  over  from  Holland  to  be  sent  out 
to  the  bay.  Monsieur  Radisson  advises  the  Company 
to  fortify  Nelson  especially  strongly,  for  hence  come 
the  best  furs. 

The  Company  is  determined  to  be  ready  for  the 
raid,  but  the  straits  will  not  be  clear  of  ice  before 

July- 

Notes  on  Chapter  XI. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are  taken 
from  the  Minutes  of  the  Company,  Hudson's  Bay  House.  AIL 
French  records  state  that  Hume  was  killed  in  tne  loss  of  Th* 
Perpetuana.  As  I  have  his  letter  from  Rochelle,  dated  Decem- 
ber, 1685,  this  is  a  mistake.  He  reached  England.  January, 
1686,  and  his  affidavit  is  in  Hudson's  Bay  House.  Captam 
Bond  was  severely  censured  by  the  Company  for  deserting  Tht 

209 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


Perpetuana.  If  he  had  not  fled,  the  French  would  without  a 
doubt  have  dispatched  Radisson  on  the  spot.  Some  of  the 
men  of  Tlie  Perpetuana  spent  two  years  imprisoned  in  Quebec. 
Up  to  this  time,  by  wreck  and  raid,  including  sloops  as  well  as 
frigates — the  Company  had  lost  thirteen  vessels.  Record  of 
P^r^  is  found  also  in  French  state  documents  of  this  date. 
Smithsend  escaped  to  England,  February  14,  1686. 


210 


CHAPTER  XII 

1686-1687 

PIERRE  LE   MOYNE    D'IBERVILLE    SWEEPS    THE    BAY 

WITH  Captain  Outlaw's  crew  adding 
strength  to  Albany,  and  Governor  Brid- 
gar's  crew  wintering  at  Rupert  River, 
the  Adventurers  on  Hudson  Bay  once  more  felt 
secure.  Like  a  bolt  from  the  blue  came  the  French 
raiders  into  the  midst  of  this  security. 

It  was  one  of  the  long  summer  nights  on  the  i8th 
of  June,  1686,  when  twilight  of  the  North  merges 
with  dawn.  Fourteen  cannon  in  all  protruded  from 
the  embrasures  of  the  four  stone  bastions  round 
Moose  Factory — the  southwest  comer  of  the  bay; 
and  the  eighteen-foot  pickets  of  the  palisaded  square 
wall  were  everywhere  punctured  with  holes  for 
musketry.  In  one  bastion  were  three  thousand 
pounds  of  powder.  In  another,  twelve  soldiers  slept. 
In  a  third  were  stored  furs.  The  fourth  bastion 
served  as  kitchen.  Across  the  middle  of  the  court- 
yard was  the  two-story  storehouse  and  residence 
of  the  chief  factor.    The  sentinel  had  shot  the  strong 

211 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

iron  bolts  of  the  main  gate  facing  the  waterway,  and 
had  lain  down  to  sleep  wrapped  in  a  blanket  without 
loading  the  cannon  it  was  his  duty  to  guard.  Twi- 
light of  the  long  June  night — almost  the  longest  day 
in  the  year — had  deepened  into  the  white  stillness 
that  precedes  dawn,  when  two  forms  took  shape  in 
the  thicket  of  underbrush  behind  the  fort,  and  there 
stepped  forth  clad  in  buckskin  cap-d-pie,  musket  over 
shoulder,  war  hatchet,  powderhorn,  dagger,  pistol  in 
belt  and  unscabbarded  sword  aglint  in  hand,  two 
French  wood-lopers,  the  far-famed  coureurs  des  hois, 
whose  scalping  raids  were  to  strike  terror  from 
Louisiana  to  Hudson  Bay. 

At  first  glance,  the  two  scouts  might  have  been 
marauding  Iroquois  come  this  outrageous  distance 
through  swamp  and  forest  from  their  own  fighting 
ground.  Closer  scrutiny  showed  them  to  be  young 
French  noblemen,  Pierre  le  Moyne  d'Iberville,  age 
twenty-four,  and  his  brother,  Sainte  Helene,  native 
to  the  roving  life  of  the  bushranger,  to  pillage  and 
raid  and  ambuscade  as  the  war-eagle  to  prey.  Born 
in  Montreal  in  i66t  and  schooled  to  all  the  wilder- 
ness perils  of  the  struggling  colony's  early  life,  Pierre 
le  Mo3me,  one  of  nine  sons  of  Charles  le  Moyne,  at 
Montreal,  became  the  Robin  Hood  of  American 
wilds. 

Sending  his  brother  Ste.  Helene  round  one  side  of 

212 


Le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

the  pickets  to  peer  through  the  embrasures  of  the 
moonlit  fortress,  Pierre  le  Moyne  d'Iberville  skirted 
the  other  side  himself  and  quickly  made  the  dis- 
covery that  not  one  of  the  cannon  was  loaded.  The 
tompion  was  in  every  muzzle.  Scarcely  a  cat's-paw 
of  wind  dimpled  the  waters.  The  bay  was  smooth 
as  silk.  Not  a  twig  crunched  beneath  the  moccasined 
tread  of  the  two  spies.  There  was  the  white  silence, 
the  white  midnight  pallor  of  Arctic  night,  the  diaph- 
anous play  of  Northern  lights  over  skyey  waters,  the 
fine  etched  shadows  of  juniper  and  fir  and  spruce 
black  as  crayon  across  the  pale-amber  swamps. 

With  a  quick  glance,  d'Iberville  and  his  brother 
took  in  every  detail.  Then  they  melted  back  in  the 
pallid  half-light  like  shadows.  In  a  trice,  a  hundred 
forms  had  taken  shape  in  the  mist — sixty-six  Indians 
decked  in  all  the  war-gear  of  savage  glory  from  head- 
dress and  vermilion  cheeks  to  naked  red-stained 
limbs  lithe  as  tiger,  smooth  and  supple  as  satin — 
sixty-six  Indians  and  thirty-three  half-wild  French 
soldiers  gay  in  all  the  regimentals  of  French  pomp, 
commanded  by  old  Chevalier  de  Troyes,  veteran 
of  a  hundred  wars,  now  commissioned  to  demand  the 
release  of  Monsieur  Pcr^  from  the  forts  of  the  Eng- 
lish fur  traders.  Beside  De  Troyes,  stood  De  la 
Chesnay,  head  of  the  Northern  Company  of  Fur 
Traders  in  Quebec,  only  too  glad  of  this  chance  to 

213 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


raid  the  forts  of  rivals.  And  well  to  the  fore,  cross 
in  hand,  head  bared,  the  Jesuit  Sylvie  had  come 
to  rescue  the  souls  of  Northern  heathendom  from 
hell. 

Impossible  as  it  may  seem,  these  hundred  intrepid 
wood-runners  had  come  overland  from  Montreal. 
While  Grimmington  and  Smithsend  were  still  in 
prison  at  Quebec,  d'Iberville  and  his  half-wild  fol- 
lowers had  set  out  in  midwinter  on  a  voyage  men 
hardly  dared  in  summer.  Without  waiting  for  the 
ice  to  break  up,  leaving  Montreal  in  March,  they  had 
followed  the  frozen  river  bed  of  the  Ottawa  north- 
ward, past  the  Rideau  and  Chaudiere  Falls  tossing 
their  curtains  of  spray  in  mid-air  where  the  city  of 
Ottawa  stands  to-day,  past  the  Mattawa  which  led 
ofif  to  the  portages  of  Michilimackinac  and  the  Great 
Lakes,  up  the  palisaded  shores  of  the  Temiscamingue 
to  Lake  Abbittibbi,  the  half-way  watershed  between 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  Hudson  Bay.  French  silver 
mines,  which  the  English  did  not  rediscover  to  the 
present  century,  were  worked  at  Temiscamingue. 
At  Abbittibbi,  a  stockade  was  built  in  theliionth  of 
May,  and  three  Canadians  left  to  keep  guard.  Here, 
too,  pause  was  made  to  construct  canoes  for  the 
voyage  down  the  watershed  of  Moose  River  to 
James  Bay.  Instead  of  waiting  for  the  ice  of  the 
Ottawa  to  break  up,  the  raiders  had  forced  their 

214 


Le  Moyne  d'lbertnlle  Siceeps  the  Bay 

march  to  be  on  time  to  float  down  on  the  swollen 
currents  of  the  spring  thaw  to  Moose  Factory,  four- 
hundred  miles  from  the  height  of  land. 

And  a  march  forced  against  the  very  powers  of  the 
elements,  it  had  proved.  No  tents  were  carried; 
only  the  blanket,  knapsack  fashion,  tied  to  each 
man's  back.  Bivouac  was  made  under  the  stars. 
No  provisions  but  what  each  blanket  carried!  No 
protection  but  the  musket  over  shoulder,  the  war  axe 
and  powderhom,  and  pistol  in  belt!  No  reward 
but  the  vague  promise  of  loot  from  the  English  wig- 
wamming — as  the  Indians  say — on  the  Northern 
Bay!  Do  the  border  raids  of  older  "lands  record 
more  heroic  daring  than  this?  A  march  through 
six-hundred  miles  of  trackless  forest  in  midwinter, 
then  down  the  maelstrom  sweep  of  torrents  swollen  by 
spring  thaw,  for  three-hundred  miles  to  the  juniper 
swamps  of  rotting  windfall  and  dank  forest  growth 
around  the  bay? 

If  the  march  had  been  difficult  by  snowshoe,  it 
was  ten-fold  more  now.  Unknown  cataracts,  un- 
known whirlpools,  unknown  reaches  of  endless 
rapids  dashed  the  canoes  against  the  ice  jam,  under 
huge  trunks  of  rotting  trees  lying  athwart  the  way, 
so  that  Pierre  d'Iberville's  canoe  was  swamped,  two 
of  his  voyageurs  swept  to  death  l^efore  his  eyes,  and 
two  others  only  saved  by  d'lberville,  himself,  leaping 

215 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  the  rescue  and  dragging  them  ashore.  In  places, 
the  ice  had  to  be  cut  away  with  hatchets.  In  places, 
portage  was  made  over  the  ice  jams,  men  sinking  to 
their  armpits  in  a  slither  of  ice  and  snow.  For  as 
long  as  eleven  miles,  the  canoes  w^re  tracked  over 
rapids  with  the  men  wading  barefoot  over  ice-cold, 
slippery  river  bed. 

It  had  been  no  play,  this  fur-trade  raid,  and  now 
Iberville  was  back  from  his  scouting,  having  seen 
with  his  own  eyes  that  the  English  fur  traders  were 
really  wigwamming  on  the  bay — by  which  the  Indians 
meant  ''wintering."  Hastily,  all  burdens  of  blanket 
and  food  and  clothes  were  cast  aside  and  cached. 
Hastily,  each  raider  fell  to  his  knees  invoking  the 
blessing  of  Ste.  Anne,  patron  saint  of  Canadian 
voyageur.  Hastily,  the  Jesuit  Sylvie  passed  from 
man  to  man  absolving  all  sin;  for  these  men  fought 
with  all  "the  Spartan  ferocity  of  the  Indian  fighter — • 
that  it  was  better  to  die  fighting  than  to  suffer  torture 
in  defeat. 

Then  each  man  recharged  his  musket  lest  the 
swamp  mists  had  dampened  powder.  Perhaps, 
Iberville  reminded  his  bush-lopers  that  the  Sov- 
ereign Council  of  Quebec  had  a  standing  offer  of  ten 
crowns  reward  for  every  enemy  slain,  twenty  crowns 
for  every  enemy  captured.  Perhaps,  old  Chevalier 
de  Troyes  called  up  memories  of  Bollard's  fight  on 

216 


Le  Moyne  d'lherville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

the  Long  Sault  twenty  years  before,  and  warned  his 
thirty  soldiers  that  there  was  no  retreat  now  through 
a  thousand  miles  of  forest.  They  must  win  or  perish ! 
Perhaps  Dechesnay,  the  fur  trader,  told  these  wood- 
rovers  that  in  at  least  one  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company's  forts  were  fifty-thousand  crowns'  worth 
of  beaver  to  be  divided  as  spoils  among  the  victors. 
De  Troyes  led  his  soldiers  round  the  fore  to  make  a 
feint  of  furious  onslaught  from  the  water  front. 
Iberville  posted  his  Indians  along  each  flank  to 
fire  through  the  embrasures  of  the  pickets.  Then, 
with  a  wild  yell,  the  French  raiders  swooped  upon 
the  sleeping  fort.  Iberville  and  his  brothers,  Ste. 
Helene  and  Maricourt,  were  over  the  rear  pickets 
and  across  the  courtyard,  swords  in  hand,  before  the 
sleepy  gunner  behind  the  main  gate  could  get  his 
eyes  open.  One  blow  of  Ste.  Hd^ne's  saber  split 
the  fellow's  head  to  the  collar  bone.  The  trunk  of 
a  tree  was  used  to  ram  the  main  gate.  Iberville's 
Indians  had  hacked  down  the  rear  pickets,  and  he, 
himself,  led  the  way  into  the  house.  Before  the  six- 
teen terrified  inmates  dashing  out  in  their  shirts  had 
realized  what  was  happening,  the  raiders  were 
masters  of  Moose.  Only  one  man  besides  the  gunner 
was  killed,  and  he  was  a  Frenchman  slain  by  the 
cross-fire  of  his  comrades.  Cellars  were  searched, 
but   there   was   small   loot.    Furs   were   evidently 

217 


The  Coiujuest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

stored  elsewhere,  but  the  French  were  the  richer  by 
sixteen  captives,  twelve  portable  cannon,  and  three- 
thousand  pounds  of  powder.  Flag  unfurled,  mus- 
kets firing,  sod  heaved  in  air,  Chevalier  de  Troyes 
took  possession  of  the  fort  for  the  Most  Redoubtable, 
Most  ^Mighty,  Most  Christian  King  of  France,  though 
a  cynic  might  wonder  how  such  an  act  was  accom- 
plished in  time  of  peace,  when  the  sole  object  of  the 
raid  had  been  the  rescue  of  Monsieur  Pere,  im- 
prisoned as  a  spy. 

Eastward  of  Moose,  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles 
along  the  south  coast  of  the  bay  on  Rupert's  River, 
was  the  other  fort,  stronger,  the  bastions  of  stone, 
with  a  dock  where  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's 
ships  commonly  anchored  for  the  summer.  North- 
westward of  Moose,  some  hundred  miles,  was  a  third 
fort,  Albany,  the  citadel  of  the  English  fur  traders' 
strength,  forty  paces  back  from  the  water.  Unas- 
sailable by  sea,  it  was  the  storehouse  of  the  best  furs. 
It  was  decided  to  attack  Rupert  first.  Staying  only 
long  enough  at  Moose  to  build  a  raft  to  carry  Cheva- 
lier de  Troyes  and  his  prisoners  along  the  coast,  the 
raiders  set  out  by  sea  on  the  27th  of  June. 

Iberville  led  the  way  with  two  canoes  and  eight 
or  nine  men.  By  sailboat,  it  was  necessary  to  round 
a  long  point  of  land.  By  canoe,  this  land  could  be 
portaged,  and  Iberville  was  probably  the  first  man 

218 


Le  Moyne  dflberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

to  blaze  the  trail  across  the  swamp,  which  has  been 
used  by  hunters  from  that  day  to  this.  By  the  first 
of  July,  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  Rupert's  bastions 
through  the  woods.  Concealing  his  Indians,  he 
went  forward  to  reconnoiter.  To  his  delight,  he 
espied  the  Company's  ship  with  the  H.  B.  C.  ensign 
flying  that  signified  Governor  Bridgar  was  on  board. 
Choosing  the  night,  as  usual,  for  attack,  Iberville 
stationed  his  bandits  where  they  could  fire  on  the 
decks  if  necessary.  Then  he  glided  across  the  water 
to  the  schooner. 

Hand  over  fist,  he  was  up  the  ship's  sides  when 
the  sleeping  sentinel  awakened  with  a  spring  at  his 
throat.  One  cleft  of  Iberville's  sword,  and  the 
fellow  rolled  dead  at  the  Frenchman's  feet.  Iber- 
ville then  stamped  on  the  deck  to  call  the  crew  aloft, 
and  sabered  three  men  in  turn  as  they  tumbled  up 
the  hatchway,  till  the  fourth.  Governor  Bridgar,  him- 
self, threw  up  his  hands  in  unconditional  surrender  of 
the  ship  and  crew  of  fourteen.  Twice  in  four  years, 
Bridgar  found  himself  a  captive.  The  din  had 
alarmed  the  fort.  Though  the  bastions  were  dis- 
mantled for  repairs,  gates  were  slammed  shut  and 
musketry  poured  hot  shot  through  the  embrasures, 
that  kept  the  raiders  at  a  distance.  Again,  it  was  the 
Le  Moyne  brothers  who  led  the  fray.  The  bastions 
served  the  usual  two-fold  purpose  of  defense  and 

219 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

barracks.  Extemporizing  ladders,  Iberville  went 
scrambling  up  like  a  monkey  to  the  roofs,  hacked 
holes  through  the  rough  thatch  of  the  bastions  and 
threw  down  hand  grenades  at  the  imminent  risk  of 
blowing  himself  as  well  as  the  enemy  to  eternity. 
**It  was,"  says  the  old  chronicle,  "with  an  effect 
most  admirable" — which  depends  on  the  point  of 
view;  for  when  the  defenders  were  driven  from 
the  bastions  to  the  main  house  inside,  gates  were 
rammed  down,  palisades  hacked  out,  and  Iberville 
with  his  followers,  was  on  the  roof  of  the  main  house 
throwing  down  more  bombs.  As  one  explosive  left 
his  hand,  a  terrified  English  woman  dashed  up 
stairs  into  the  room  directly  below.  Iberville 
shouted  for  her  to  retire.  The  explosion  drowned 
his  warning,  and  the  next  moment  he  was  down 
stairs  dashing  from  hall  to  haU,  candle  in  hand,  fol- 
lowed by  the  priest,  Sylvie.  A  plaintive  cry  came 
from  the  closet  of  what  had  been  the  factor's  room. 
Followed  by  his  powder-grimed,  wild  raiders,  Iber- 
ville threw  open  the  door.  With  a  scream,  there  fell 
at  his  feet  a  woman  with  a  shattered  hip.  However 
black  a  record  these  raiders  left  for  braining  children 
and  mutilating  women,  four  years  later  in  what  is  now 
New  York  State,  they  made  no  war  on  women  here. 
Lifting  her  to  a  bed,  the  priest  Sylvie  and  Iberville 
called  in  the  surgeon,  and  barring  the  door  from  the 

220 


Le  Moyne  cVlberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

outside,  forbade  intrusion.  The  raid  became  a  riot. 
The  French  possessed  Rupert,  though  little  the 
richer  but  for  the  ship  and  thirty  prisoners. 

The  wild  wood-rovers  were  now  strong  enough  to 
attempt  Albany,  three  hundred  miles  northwest.  It 
was  at  Albany  that  the  French  spy  Pere  was  supposed 
to  be  panting  for  rescue.  It  was  also  at  Albany  that 
the  English  fur  traders  had  their  greatest  store  of 
pelts.  As  usual,  Iberville  led  off  in  canoes;  De 
Troyes,  the  French  fur  traders,  the  soldiers  and  the 
captives  following  with  the  cannon  on  the  ship.  It 
was  sunset  when  the  canoes  launched  out  from  Ru- 
pert River.  To  save  time  by  crossing  the  south  end 
of  the  bay  diagonally,  they  had  sheered  out  from  the 
coast  when  there  blew  down  from  the  upper  bay  one 
of  those  bitter  northeast  gales,  that  at  once  swept  a 
maelstrom  of  churning  ice  floes  about  the  cockleshell 
birch  canoes.  To  make  matters  worse,  fog  fell  thick 
as  night.  A  birch  canoe  in  a  cross  sea  is  bad  enough. 
With  ice  floes  it  was  destruction. 

Some  made  for  the  main  shore  and  took  refuge  on 
land.  The  Le  Moyncs'  two  canoes  kept  on.  A  sea 
of  boiling  ice  floes  got  between  the  two.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  for  the  night  but  camp  on  the  shifting 
ice,  hanging  for  dear  life  to  the  canoe  held  high  on  the 
voyageurs'  heads  out  of  danger,  clinging  hand  to 
hand  so  that  if  one  man  slithered  through  the  ice- 

221 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

slush  the  human  rope  pulled  him  out.  It  was  a  new 
kind  of  canoe  work  for  Iberville's  Indians.  When 
daylight  came  through  the  gray  fog,  Iberville  did  not 
wait  for  the  weather  to  clear.  He  kept  guns  firing 
to  guide  the  canoe  that  followed  and  pushed  across 
the  traverse,  portaging  where  there  was  ice,  pad- 
dling where  there  was  water.  Four  days  the  traverse 
lasted,  and  not  once  did  this  Robin  Hood  of  Canadian 
wildwoods  flinch.  The  first  of  August  saw  his  In- 
dians and  bush-lopers  below  the  embankments  of 
Albany.  A  few  days  later  came  De  Troyes  on  the 
boat  with  soldiers  and  cannon. 

Governor  Sargeant  of  Albany  had  been  warned  of 
the  raiders  by  Indian  coureurs.  The  fort  was  shut 
fast  as  a  sealed  box.  Neither  side  gave  sign.  Not 
till  the  French  began  trundling  their  cannon  ashore 
by  all  sorts  of  clumsy  contrivances  to  get  them  in 
range  of  the  fort  forty  yards  back,  was  there  a  sign 
of  hfe,  when  forty-three  big  guns  inside  the  wall  of 
Albany  simultaneously  let  go  forty-three  bombs  in 
midair  that  flattened  the  raiders  to  earth  under 
shelter  of  the  embankment.  Chevalier  De  Troyes 
then  mustered  all  the  pomp  and  fustian  of  court 
pageantry,  flag  flying,  drummers  beating  to  the  fore, 
guard  in  line,  and  marching  forward  demanded  of 
the  English  traders,  come  half-way  out  to  meet  him, 
satisfaction  for  and  the  delivery  of  Sieur  Pere,  a 

222 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

loyal  subject  of  France  suffering  imprisonment  on 
the  shores  of  Hudson  Bay  at  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish. One  may  wonder,  perhaps,  what  these  raiders 
would  have  done  without  the  excuse  of  Pere.  The 
messenger  came  back  from  Governor  Sargeant  with 
word  that  Pere  had  been  sent  home  to  France  by  way 
of  England  long  ago.  (That  Pere  had  been  delayed 
in  an  English  prison  was  not  told.)  De  Troyes  then 
pompously  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  fort. 
Sargeant  sent  back  word  such  a  demand  was  an 
insult  in  time  of  peace.  Under  cover  of  night  the 
French  retired  to  consider.  With  an  extravagance 
now  lamented,  they  had  used  at  Rupert  the  most  of 
their  captured  ammunition.  Cannon,  they  had  in 
plenty,  but  only  a  few  rounds  of  balls.  They  had 
thirty  prisoners,  but  no  provisions;  a  ship,  but  no 
booty  of  furs.  Between  them  and  home  lay  a  wilder- 
ness of  forest  and  swamp.  They  must  capture  the 
fort  by  an  escalade,  or  retreat  empty-handed. 

Inside  the  fort  such  bedlam  reigned  as  might  have 
delighted  the  raiders'  hearts.  Sargeant,  the  sturdy 
old  governor,  was  for  keeping  his  teeth  clinched  to 
the  end',  though  the  larder  was  lean  and  only  enough 
powder  left  to  do  the  French  slight  damage  as  they 
landed  their  cannon.  When  a  servant  fell  dead 
from  a  French  ball.  Turner,  the  chief  gunner,  dashed 
from  his  post  roaring  out  he  was  going  to  throw 

223 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

himself  on  the  mercy  of  the  French.  Sargeant 
rounded  the  fellow  back  to  his  guns  with  the  generous 
promise  to  blow  his  brains  out  if  he  budged  an  inch. 
Two  English  spies  sent  out  came  back  with  word 
the  French  were  mounting  their  battery  in  the  dark. 
Instantly,  there  was  a  scurry  of  men  to  hide  in  attics, 
in  cellars,  under  bales  of  fur,  while  six  worthies,  over 
signed  names,  presented  a  petition  to  the  sturdy  old 
governor,  imploring  him  to  surrender.  Declaring 
they  would  not  fight  without  an  advance  of  pay  any- 
way, they  added  in  words  that  should  go  down  to 
posterity,  ^^]or  if  any  of  us  lost  a  leg,  the  company 
could  7iot  make  it  goody  Still  Sargeant  kept  his 
teeth  set,  his  gates  shut,  his  guns  spitting  defiance  at 
the  enemy. 

For  two  days  bombs  sang  back  and  forward 
through  the  air.  There  was  more  parleying.  Brid- 
gar,  the  governor  captured  down  at  Rupert,  came 
to  tell  Sargeant  that  the  French  were  desperate;  if 
they  were  compelled  to  fight  to  the  end,  there  would 
be  no  quarter.  Still  Sargeant  hoped  against  hope 
for  the  yearly  English  vessel  to  relieve  the  siege. 
Then  Captain  Outlaw  came  from  the  powder  mag- 
azines with  word  there  was  no  more  ammunition. 
The  people  threw  down  their  arms  and  threatened 
to  desert  en  masse  to  the  French.  Sargeant  still 
stubbornly  refused  to  beat  a  parley;  so  Dixon,  the 

224 


Le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

under  factor,  hung  out  a  white  sheet  as  flag  of  truce, 
from  an  upper  window.  The  French  had  just 
ceased  firing  to  cool  their  cannon.  They  had  actually 
been  reduced  to  melting  iron  round  wooden  disks 
for  balls,  when  the  messenger  came  out  with  word 
of  surrender.  Bluff  and  resolute  to  the  end,  Sargeant 
marched  out  with  two  flagons  of  port,  seated  himself 
on  the  French  cannon,  drank  healths  with  De 
Troyes,  and  proceeded  to  drive  as  hard  a  bargain  as 
if  his  larders  had  been  crammed  and  his  magazines 
full  of  powder.  Drums  beating,  flags  flying,  in  full 
possession  of  arms,  governor,  officers,  wives  and  ser- 
vants were  to  be  permitted  to  march  out  in  honor, 
to  be  transported  to  Charlton  Island,  there  to  await 
the  coming  of  the  English  ship. 

Barely  had  the  thirty  English  sallied  out,  when 
the  bush-lopers  dashed  into  the  fort,  ransacking  house 
and  cellar.  The  fifty-thousand-crowns'  worth  of 
l^eaver  were  found,  but  not  a  morsel  of  food  except 
one  bowl  of  barley  sprouts.  Thirteen  hundred 
miles  from  Canada  with  neither  powder  nor  food! 
De  Troyes  gave  his  men  leave  to  disband  on 
August  lo,  and  it  was  a  wild  scramble  for  home — 
sauve  qui  pent,  as  the  old  chronicler  relates,  some  of 
the  prisoners  being  taken  to  Quebec  as  carriers  of  the 
raided  furs,  others  to  the  number  of  fifty,  being  turned 
adrift  in  the  desolate  wilderness  of  the  bay!    It  was 

225 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

October  before  Iberville's  forest  rovers  were  back 
in  Montreal. 

From  Charlton  Island,  the  English  refugees  found 
their  way  up  to  Port  Nelson,  there  to  go  back  on  the 
annual  ship  to  England.  Among  these  were  Bridgar 
and  Outlaw,  but  the  poor  outcasts,  who  were  driven 
to  the  woods,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  servants,  who 
were  compelled  to  csLvry  the  loot  for  the  French 
raiders  back  to  Quebec — suffered  slim  mercies  from 
their  captors.  Those  round  Albany  were  compelled 
to  act  as  beasts  of  burden  for  the  small  French  garri- 
son, and  received  no  food  but  what  they  hunted. 
Some  perished  of  starvation  outside  the  walls.  Others 
attempted  to  escape  north  overland  to  Nelson.  Of 
the  crew  from  Outlaw's  ship  Success,  eight  perished 
on  the  way  north,  and  the  surviving  six  were  accused 
of  cannibalism.  In  all,  fifty  English  fur  traders 
were  set  adrift  when  Albany  surrendered  to  the 
French.    Not  twenty  were  ever  heard  of  again. 

Notes  on  Chapter  XII. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are  drawn 
from  the  documents  of  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London,  and  the 
State  Papers  of  the  Marine,  Paris,  for  1685-87.  It  is  remark- 
able how  completely  the  State  papers  of  the  two  hostile  parties 
agree.  Those  in  H.  B.  C.  House  are  the  Minutes,  Governor 
Sargeant's  affidavit,   Bridgar's  report,   Outlaw's  oath  and  the 

Petition  of  the  survivors  of  Outlaw's  crew — namely,  John 
arrett,  John  Howard,  John  Parsons,  William  Gray,  Edmund 
Clough,  Thomas  Rawlin,  G.  B.  Barlow,  Thomas  Lyon.  As  the 
raids  now  became  an  international  matter,  duplicates  of  most  of 
these  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the  Public  Records  Office,  Lon- 
don.    All  French  historians  give  some  account  of  this  raid  of 

226 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 


Iberville's;  but  all  are  drawn  from  the  same  source,  the  account 
of  the  Jesuit  Sylvie,  or  from  one  De  Lery,  who  was  supposed 
to  have  been  present.  Oldmixon,  the  old  English  chronicler, 
must  have  had  access  to  Sargeant's  papers,  as  he  relates  some 
details  only  to  be  found  in  Hudson's  Bay  House. 


227 


CHAPTER  XIII 

I 686-1 69 7 
d'iberville  sweeps  the  bay  {Continued) 

THE  French  were  now  in  complete  possession 
of  the  south  end  of  Hudson  Bay.  Iber- 
ville's brother,  Maricourt,  with  a  handful 
of  men  remained  at  Albany  to  guard  the  captured 
forts.  Some  of  the  English,  who  had  taken  to  the 
woods  in  flight,  now  found  the  way  to  Severn  River, 
half-way  north  between  Albany  and  Nelson,  where 
they  hastily  rushed  up  rude  winter  quarters  and 
boldly  did  their  best  to  keep  the  Indians  from  com- 
municating with  the  French.  Among  the  refugees 
was  Chouart  Groseillers,  who  became  one  of  the 
chief  advisers  at  Nelson.  Two  of  his  comrades  had 
promptly  deserted  to  the  French  side.  For  ten 
years,  Hudson  Bay  became  the  theater  of  such  esca- 
pades as  buccaneers  might  have  enacted  on  the 
Spanish  Main.  England  and  France  were  at  peace. 
A  Treaty  of  Neutrality,  in  1686,  had  provided  that 
the  bay  should  be  held  in  common  by  the  fur  traders 

22S 


Le  Moyne  d'Ibermlle  Sweeps  the  Bay 

of  both  countries,  but  the  Company  of  the  North  in 
Quebec  and  the  English  Adventurers  of  London  had 
no  notion  of  leaving  their  rights  in  such  an  ambigu- 
ous position.  Both  fitted  out  their  raiders  to  fight 
the  quarrel  to  the  end,  and  in  spite  of  the  Treaty 
of  Neutrality,  the  King  of  France  issued  secret  in- 
structions to  the  bush-rovers  of  Quebec  "to  leave  of 
the  English  forts  on  the  Northern  Bay,  not  a  vestige 
standing."  If  the  bay  were  to  be  held  in  common, 
and  the  English  abandoned  it,  all  rights  would  revert 
to  France. 

The  year  1687  saw  the  tireless  Iberville  back  at 
Rupert  River.  The  Hudson's  Bay  sloop.  The 
Youngs  had  come  to  port.  Iberville  seized  it  with- 
out any  ado  and  sent  four  spies  over  to  Charlton 
Island  where  The  Churchill,  under  Captain  Bond, 
was  wintering.  Three  of  the  French  spies  were 
summarily  captured  by  the  English  fur  traders  and 
thrown  into  the  hold  of  the  ship,  manacled,  for  the 
winter.  In  spring,  one  was  brought  above  decks  to 
give  the  English  sailors  a  helping  hand.  The  fellow 
waited  till  six  of  the  crew  were  up  the  ratlines,  then 
he  seized  an  axe,  tip-toed  up  behind  two  English- 
men, brained  them  on  the  spot,  rushing  down  the 
hatchway  liberated  his  two  comrades,  took  possession 
of  all  firearms  and  at  pistol  point  kept  the  English- 
men up  the  mast  poles  till  he  steered  the  vessel  across 

229 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  Iberville  at  Rupert  River,  where  a  cargo  of  pro- 
visions saved  the  French  from  famine. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  English  sent  rescue  parties 
south  from  Nelson  and  Severn  to  recapture  Albany. 
Captain  Moon  had  come  down  from  Nelson  with 
twenty-four  men  to  Albany,  reinforced  by  the  crews 
of  the  two  ships,  Hampshire  and  North-West  Fox, 
when  Iberville  came  canoeing  across  the  ice  floes 
with  his  Indian  bandits.  The  English  ships  were 
locked  in  the  ice  before  the  besieged  fort.  Iber- 
ville ambushed  his  men  in  the  tamarack  swamps  till 
eighty-two  English  had  landed.  Then,  he  rushed 
the  deserted  vessels,  took  possession  of  one  with  its 
cargo  of  furs,  and  as  the  ice  cleared  sailed  gayly  out 
of  Albany  for  Quebec.  The  astounded  English  set 
fire  to  the  other  ship  and  retreated  overland  to 
Severn.  At  the  straits,  Iberville  ran  full-tilt  into 
the  fleet  of  incoming  English  vessels,  but  that  was 
nothing  to  disconcert  this  blockade-runner,  not 
though  the  ice  closed  round  them  all,  holding  French 
and  English  prisoners  within  gunshot  of  each  other. 
Iberville  ran  up  an  English  flag  on  his  captured 
ship  and  had  actually  signaled  the  captains  of  the 
English  frigates  to  come  across  the  ice  and  visit  him 
when  the  water  cleared,  and  away  he  sailed. 

Perhaps  success  bred  reckless  carelessness  on  the 
part  of  the  French.     From   1690  to  '93,  Iberville 

230 


Le  Mmjne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

was  absent  from  the  bay  on  the  border  raids  of 
Schenectady,  and  Pemaquid  in  New  England.  Mike 
Grimmington  of  The  Perpehmna  was  at  last  released 
from  captivity  in  Quebec  and  came  to  England  with 
rage  in  his  heart  and  vengeance  in  his  hands  for 
France.  It  was  now  almost  impossible  for  the  Eng- 
lish Adventurers  to  hire  captains  and  crews  for  the 
dangerous  work  of  their  trade  on  the  bay.  The  same 
pensions  paid  by  the  State  were  offered  by  the  Com- 
pany in  case  of  wounds  or  death,  and  in  addition 
a  bonus  of  twenty  shillings  a  month  was  guaranteed 
to  the  sailors,  of  from  ^£50  to  £200  a  year  to  the 
captains.  A  present  of  £10  plate  was  given  to 
Grimmington  for  his  bravery  and  he  was  appointed 
captain.  Coming  out  to  Nelson  in  '93,  Grimming- 
ton determined  to  capture  back  Albany  for  the 
English.  Three  ships  sailed  down  to  Albany  from 
Nelson.  The  fort  looked  deserted.  Led  by  Grim- 
mington, the  sailors  hacked  open  the  gates.  Only 
four  Frenchmen  were  holding  the  fort.  The  rest  of 
the  garrison  were  off  hunting  in  the  woods,  and  in 
the  woods  they  were  forced  to  remain  that  winter; 
for  Grimmington  ransacked  the  fort,  took  possession 
and  clapped  the  French  under  Mons.  Captain  Le 
Meux,  prisoners  in  the  hold  of  his  vessel.  With 
Grimmington  on  this  raid  was  his  old  mate  in  cap- 
tivity— Smithsend.     Albany  was  the  largest  fort  on 

231 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  bay  at  this  time.  As  the  two  English  captains 
searched  the  cellars  they  came  on  a  ghastly  sight — 
naked,  covered  with  vermin,  shackled  hands  to  feet 
and  chained  to  the  wall  was  a  French  criminal,  who 
had  murdered  first  the  surgeon,  then  the  priest  of 
the  fort.  He,  too,  was  turned  adrift  in  the  woods 
with  the  rest  of  the  garrison. 

Mons.  Le  Meux,  carried  to  England  captive,  is 
examined  by  the  English  Adventurers.  From  his 
account,  all  the  French  garrisons  are  small  and 
France  holds  but  lightly  what  she  has  captured  so 
easily.  Captain  Grimmington  is  given  a  tankard 
worth  £^6  for  his  distinguished  services.  Captain 
Edgecombe  of  The  Royal  Hudson's  Bay,  who,  in 
spite  of  the  war,  has  brought  home  a  cargo  of  twenty- 
two  thousand  beaver,  is  given  plate  to  the  value  of 
;£2o  as  well  as  a  gratuity  of  ;gioo.  Captain  Ford, 
who  was  carried  prisoner  to  France  by  Iberville, 
is  ransomed,  and  The  Hampshire  vessel  put  up  at 
auction  in  France  is  bid  in  by  secret  agents  of  the 
English  company.  Chouart  Groseillers  is  wel- 
comed home  to  London,  and  given  a  present  of  ;Sioo 
and  allowed  to  take  a  graceful  farewell  of  the  Com- 
pany, as  are  all  its  French  servants.  The  Company 
wants  no  French  servants  on  the  bay  just  now — not 
even  Radisson  to  whom  IMons.  Pere,  now  escaped 

22,2 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

to  France,  writes  tempting  offers.  Sargeant,  who 
lost  Albany  in  1686,  is  first  sued  for  ;^2o,ooo  damages 
for  surrendering  the  fort  so  easily,  and  is  then  re- 
warded £350  for  holding  it  so  bravely.  Phipps  has 
refused  point-blank  to  serve  as  governor  any  longer 
at  so  dangerous  a  point  as  Nelson  for  so  small  a 
salary  as  ;^2oo  a  year.  Phipps  comes  home.  Abra- 
ham tries  it  for  a  year.  He,  too,  loses  relish  for  the 
danger  spot,  and  Walsh  goes  to  Nelson  as  governor 
with  the  apprentice  boy  Henry  Kelsey,  risen  to  be 
first  lieutenant.  In  spite  of  wars  and  raids  and  am- 
buscades, there  is  a  dividend  of  50  per  cent,  in  '88, 
(the  King  refusing  to  receive  it  personally  as  it  might 
prejudice  him  with  France)  and  of  50  per  cent,  in  '89, 
and  of  25  per  cent,  in  '90  on  stock  which  had  been 
trebled,  which  was  equivalent  to  75  per  cent,  divi- 
dends; and  there  are  put  on  record  in  the  Company's 
minutes  these  sentiments:  ^^ being  thoroughly  sen- 
sible of  the  great  blessing  it  has  pleased  Almighty 
God  to  give  the  company  by  the  arrival  of  the  shippes^ 
the  comply  doo  thinke  fitt  to  show  some  testimony  of 
their  Humble  thankfulness  for  Gods  so  great  a  viercy 
and  doo  now  unanimously  resolve  that  the  sum  of 
£100  bee  sett  aparte  as  charity  money  to  be  distributed 
amongst  such  persons  as  shall  dye  or  be  wounded  in 
the  companies'  service,  tJieir  widows  or  children  6* 
the  secretary  is  to  keep  a  particular  account  in  the 

233 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

company s  hooks  for  the  future.^'  Stock  forfeited  for 
the  breaking  of  rules  is  also  to  go  to  wounded  men 
and  widows. 

And  the  Company  is  equally  generous  to  itself; 
no  shilling  pay  for  committeemen  now  but  a  salary 
of  ;£300  a  year  to  each  committeeman  of  the  weekly 
meetings  on  the  Company's  business. 

The  upshot  of  the  frequent  meetings  and  increas- 
ing dividends  was — the  Company  resolved  on  a  des- 
perate effort  to  recapture  the  lost  forts.  The  Eng- 
lish now  held — Nelson,  the  great  fur  emporium  of 
the  North;  New  Severn  to  the  South,  which  had  been 
built  by  refugees  from  Albany,  burnt  twice  to  escape 
bush-raiders  and  as  promptly  rebuilt  when  the  French 
withdrew;  and  Albany,  itself,  which  Mike  Grim- 
mington  had  captured  back. 

The  French  held  Moose  and  Rupert  on  the  south 
of  the  bay. 

James  Knight,  who  had  acted  variously  as  appren- 
tice, trader  and  captain  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Company — was  now  appointed  commander  of  the 
south  end  of  the  bay,  with  headquarters  at  Albany, 
at  a  salary  of  £400  a  year.  Here,  he  was  to  resist 
the  French  and  keep  them  from  advancing  north  to 
Nelson.  New  Severn,  next  north,  was  still  to  serve 
as  a  refuge  in  case  of  attack.  At  Nelson,  in  addition 
to  Walsh,  Bailey — a  new  man — Geyer,  a  captain, 

234 


Le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

and  Kelsey  were  to  have  command  as  officers.  Three 
frigates — Tlie  Dering,  The  Hudson^s  Bay  and  The 
Hampshire  are  commissioned  to  the  bay  with  letters 
of  marque  to  war  on  all  enemies,  and  three  merchant- 
men— The  Prosperous,  The  Ownefs  Love  and  The 
Perry  are  also  to  go  to  the  bay.  Mutinous  of  voy- 
ages to  the  bay,  seamen  are  paid  in  advance,  and 
two  hundred  and  twenty  gallons  of  brandy  are 
divided  among  the  ships  to  warm  up  courage  as 
occasion  may  require. 

But  Iberville  was  not  the  man  to  let  his  win- 
nings slip  through  his  fingers.  It  had  now  become 
more  than  a  guerrilla  warfare  between  gamesters  of 
the  wilderness.  It  was  a  fight  for  ascendency  on  the 
continent.  It  was  a  struggle  to  determine  which 
nation  was  to  command  the  rivers  leading  inland  to 
the  unknown  West.  If  the  French  raiders  were  to 
hold  the  forts  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay,  they  must 
capture  the  great  stronghold  of  the  English — Nelson. 

Taking  on  board  one  hundred  and  twenty 
woodrangers,  Iberville  sailed  from  Quelx?c  on 
August  lo,  1694.  He  had  two  frigates — The  Poli 
and  Salamander.  By  Scptemlx?r  24,  he  was  unload- 
ing his  cannon  Ix^low  the  earthworks  of  one  hundred 
great  guns  at  Nelson.  Steady  bombardment  from 
his    frigates    poured    bombs    into    the    fort    from 

235 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

September  25  to  October  14,  and  without  ceasing, 
the  fort  guns  sent  back  a  rain  of  fire  and  ball. 
Chateauguay,  Iberville's  brother,  landed  to  attempt 
a  rush  with  his  bush-rovers  by  the  rear.  He  was 
met  at  the  pickets  by  a  spattering  fire  and  fell 
shot  as  other  brave  sons  of  the  Le  Moyne  family  fell 
— wounded  in  front,  shouting  a  rally  with  his  dying 
breath.  The  death  of  their  comrade  redoubled  the 
fury  of  the  raiders.  While  long-range  guns  tore  up 
the  earthworks  and  cut  great  gashes  in  the  shattered 
palisades  to  the  fore,  the  bushrangers  behind  had 
knocked  down  pickets  and  were  in  a  hand-to-hand 
fight  in  the  ditch  that  separated  the  rows  of  double 
palisades.  In  the  hope  of  saving  their  furs,  Walsh 
and  Kelsey  hung  out  a  tablecloth  as  flag  of  truce. 
For  a  day,  the  parley  lasted,  the  men  inside  the 
pickets  seizing  the  opportunity  to  eat  and  rest,  and 
spill  all  liquor  on  the  ground  and  bury  ammunition 
and  hide  personal  treasures.  The  weather  had 
turned  bitterly  cold.  Winter  was  impending.  No 
help  could  come  from  England  till  the  following  July. 
Walsh  did  his  best  in  a  bad  bargain,  asking  that  the 
officers  be  lodged  till  the  ships  came  the  next  year, 
that  the  English  be  allowed  the  same  provisions  as 
the  French,  that  no  injury  be  offered  the  English 
traders  during  the  winter,  and  that  they  should  be 
allowed  to  keep  the  Company's  books. 

236 


Le  Moijne  (Tlberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

Iberville  was  depending  on  loot  to  pay  his  men, 
and  would  not  hear  of  granting  the  furs  to  the  Eng- 
lish, but  he  readily  subscribed  to  the  other  condi- 
tions of  sunender,  and  took  possession  of  the  fort. 
When  Iberville  hastily  sailed  away  to  escape 
through  the  straits  before  winter  closed  them,  he 
left  De  la  Forest  commander  at  Nelson,  Jeremie, 
interpreter.  And  De  la  Forest  quickly  ignored  the 
conditions  of  surrender.  He  was  not  a  good  man 
to  be  left  in  charge.  He  was  one  of  those  who  had 
outfitted  Radisson  in  '83  and  lost  when  Radisson 
turned  Nelson  over  to  the  English  in  '84.  Early 
next  year,  the  English  ships  would  come.  If  De 
la  Forest  could  but  torture  some  of  the  English 
officers,  who  were  his  prisoners,  into  betraying  the 
secret  signals  of  the  ships,  he  might  lure  them  into 
port  and  recoup  himself  for  that  loss  of  ten  years 
ago.  Only  four  officers  were  kept  in  the  fort.  The 
rest  of  the  fifty-three  prisoners  were  harried  and 
abused  so  that  they  were  glad  to  flee  to  the  woods. 
Beds,  clothes,  guns  and  ammunition — everything, 
was  taken  from  them.  Eight  or  ten,  who  hung 
round  the  fort,  were  treated  as  slaves.  One  Eng- 
lishman was  tied  to  a  stake  and  tortured  with  hot 
irons  to  compel  him  to  tell  the  signals  of  the  English 
ships.  But  the  secret  was  not  told.  No  English 
ships  anchored  at  Port  Nelson  in  the  summer  of  '95. 

237 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

The  sail  that  hove  on  the  offing  was  a  French 
privateer.  *  In  the  hold  of  this,  the  EngHsh  survivors 
were  huddled  like  beasts,  fed  on  pease  and  dogs' 
meat.  The  ship  leaked,  and  when  the  water  rose 
to  mid-waist  of  the  prisoners,  they  were  not  allowed 
to  come  above  decks,  but  set  to  pumping  the  water 
out.  On  the  chance  of  ransom  money,  the  privateer 
carried  the  prisoners  in  irons  to  France  because — as 
one  of  the  sufferers  afterward  took  oath — "we  had 
not  the  money  to  grease  the  commander^ s  fist  for  our 
jreedom.'"  Of  the  fifty-three  Hudson's  Bay  men 
turned  adrift  from  Nelson,  only  twenty-five  survived 
the  winter. 

So  the  merry  game  went  on  between  the  rival 
traders  of  the  North,  French  and  English  fighting 
as  furiously  for  a  beaver  pelt  as  the  Spanish  fought 
for  gold.  The  English  Adventurers'  big  resolutions 
to  capture  back  the  bay  had  ended  in  smoke.  They 
had  lost  Nelson  and  now  possessed  only  one  fort  on 
the  bay— Albany,  under  Governor  Knight;  but  one 
thing  now  favored  the  English.  Open  war  had 
taken  the  place  of  secret  treaty  between  France  and 
England.  The  Company  applied  to  the  government 
for  protection.  The  English  Admiralty  granted  two 
men-of-war,  The  Bonaventure  and  Seajorth,  under 
Captain  Allen.  These  accompanied  Grimmington 
and  Smithsend  to  Nelson  in  '96,  so  when  Iberville's 

238 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

brother,  Scrigny,  came  out  from  f>ance  with  pro- 
visions on  The  Poll  and  Hardi  for  the  French  garri- 
sons at  Nelson,  he  found  English  men-of-war  lined 
up  for  attack  in  front  of  the  fort.  Serigny  didn't 
wait.  He  turned  swift  heel  for  the  sea,  so  swift, 
indeed,  that  The  Hardi  split  on  an  ice  floe  and  went 
to  the  bottom  with  all  hands.  On  August  26, 
Captain  xMlen  of  the  Royal  Navy,  demanded  the 
surrender  of  Nelson  from  Governor  De  la  Forest. 
Without  either  provision  or  powder,  La  Forest  had 
no  choice  but  to  capitulate.  In  the  fort,  Allen  seized 
twenty  thousand  beaver  pelts. 

Nelson  or  York-*— as  it  is  now  known — consisted 
under  the  French  rule  of  a  large  square  house,  with 
lead  roof  and  limestone  walls.  There  were  four 
bastions  to  the  courtyard — one  for  the  garrisons' 
lodgings,  one  for  trade,  one  for  powder,  one  for 
provisions.  All  the  buildings  were  painted  red. 
Double  palisades  with  a  trench  between  enclosed 
the  yard.  There  were  two  large  gates,  one  to  the 
waterside,  one  inland,  paneled  in  iron  with  huge, 
metal  hinges  showing  the  knobs  of  big  nail  heads.  A 
gallery  ran  round  the  roof  of  the  main  house,  and  on 
this  were  placed  five  cannon.  Three  cannon  were 
also  mounted  in  each  bastion.  The  officers'  mess 
room  boasted  a  huge  iron  hearth,  oval  tables,  wall 
cupboards,  and  beds  that  shut  up  in  the  wall-panels. 

239 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


Captain  Allen  now  retaliated  on  the  French  for 
their  cruelty  to  English  captives  by  taking  the  entire 
garrison  prisoners.  Loaded  with  furs  to  the  water- 
line,  the  English  ships  left  Bailey  and  Kelsey  at 
Nelson  and  sailed  slowly  for  England.  Just  at  the 
entrance  to  the  straits — the  place  already  made  so 
famous  by  Indian  attack  on  Hudson's  crew,  and 
French  raid  on  The  Perpetuana,  a  swift-sailing  French 
privateer  bore  down  on  the  fleet,  singled  out  Allen's 
ship  which  was  separated  from  the  other,  poured 
a  volley  of  shot  across  her  decks  which  killed  Allen 
on  the  spot,  and  took  to  flight  before  the  other  ship 
could  come  to  the  rescue.  Was  this  Iberville's 
brother — Serigny — on  his  way  home?  It  will  never 
be  known,  for  as  the  ships  made  no  capture,  the 
action  is  not  reported  in  French  records. 

The  war  had  reduced  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
to  such  straits  that  several  of  the  directors  had  gone 
bankrupt  advancing  money  to  keep  the  ships  sailing. 
No  more  money  could  be  borrowed  in  England, 
and  agents  were  trying  to  raise  funds  in  Amsterdam. 
Nevertheless,  the  Company  presented  the  captains — 
Smithsend  and  Grimmington — with  £too  each  for 
capturing  York.  The  captured  furs  replenished  the 
exhausted  finances  and  preparation  was  made  to 
dispatch  a  mighty  fleet  that  would  forever  settle 
mastery  of  the  bay. 

240 


Le  Moyne  cV Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

Two  hundred  extra  mariners  were  to  be  engaged. 
On  The  Dering,  Grimmington,  now  a  veteran  cam- 
paigner, was  to  take  sixty  fighting  men.  Captain 
Moon  was  to  have  eighteen  on  the  little  frigate, 
Perry.  Edgecombe's  Hudson^ s  Bay,  frigate,  was  to 
have  fifty-five;  Captain  Fletcher's  Hampshire ,  sixty; 
the  fire  ship  Prosperous  another  thirty  under  a  new 
man,  Captain  Batty.  These  mariners  were  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  seamen  and  company  servants. 
On  The  Hiidsoti^s  Bay  also  went  Smithsend  as 
adviser  in  the  campaign.  Every  penny  that  could 
be  raised  on  sales  of  beaver,  all  that  the  directors 
were  able  to  pledge  of  their  private  fortunes,  and 
all  the  money  that  could  be  borrowed  by  the  Adven- 
turers as  a  corporate  company,  went  to  outfit  the 
vessels  for  what  was  to  be  the  deciding  campaign. 
With  Bailey  in  control  at  Nelson  and  old  Governor 
Knight  down  at  Albany — surely  the  French  could  be 
driven  completely  from  the  bay. 

Those  captives  that  Allen's  ship  had  brought  to 
England,  lay  in  prison  five  months  at  Portsmouth 
before  they  were  set  free.  Released  at  last,  they 
hastened  to  France  where  their  emaciated,  ragged 
condition  spoke  louder  than  their  indignant  words. 
Frenchmen  languishing  in  English  prison!  Like 
wildfire  ran  the  rumor  of  the  outrage!    Once  before 

241 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

when  Pere,  the  Frenchman,  had  been  imprisoned  on 
Hudson  Bay,  Iberville  had  thrust  the  sword  of 
vengeance  into  the  very  heart  of  the  English  fastness. 
France  turned  again  to  the  same  Robin  Hood  of 
Canada's  rude  chivalry.  Iberville  was  at  this  time 
carrying  havoc  from  hamlet  to  hamlet  of  Newfound- 
land, where  two  hundred  English  had  already  fallen 
before  his  sword  and  seven  hundred  been  captured. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1697,  Serigny,  his  brother, 
just  home  from  Nelson,  was  dispatched  from  France 
with  five  men-of-war — The  Pelican,  The  Palmier, 
The  Projound,  The  Violent,  The  Wasp — to  be  placed 
under  Iberville's  command  at  Palcentia,  New- 
foundland, whence  he  was  to  proceed  to  Hudson 
Bay  with  orders,  ''to  leave  not  a  vestige  remaining" 
of  the  English  fur  trade  in  the  North. 

The  squadron  left  Newfoundland  on  July  8. 
By  the  25th,  the  ships  had  entered  the  straits  amid 
berg  and  floe,  with  the  long,  transparent  daylight, 
when  sunset  merges  with  sunrise.  Iberville  was 
on  The  Pelican  with  Bienville,  his  brother,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  and  fifty  guns.  The  other 
brother,  Serigny,  commanded  The  Palmier,  and  Ed- 
ward Fitzmaurice  of  Kerry,  a  Jacobite,  had  come 
as  chaplain.  A  gun  gone  loose  in  the  hold  of  The 
Wasp,  created  a  panic  during  the  heavy  seas  of  the 
Upper  Narrows  in  the  straits — the  huge  implement 

242 


Le  Moyne  (V Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

of  terror  rolling  from  side  to  side  of  the  dark  hold 
with  each  wash  of  the  billows  in  a  way  that  threat- 
ened to  capsize  the  vessel — not  a  man  daring  to  risk 
his  life  to  stop  the  cannon's  roll ;  and  several  gunners 
were  crushed  to  death  before  The  Wasp  could  come 
to  anchor  in  a  quiet  harbor  to  mend  the  damage. 
On  The  Pelican,  Iberville's  ship,  forty  men  lay 
in  their  berths  ill  of  scurvy.  The  fleet  was  stopped 
by  ice  at  Digges'  Island  at  the  west  end  of  the  straits 
— a  place  already  famous  in  the  raiders'  history. 
Here,  the  icepans,  contracted  by  the  straits,  locked 
around  the  vessels  in  iron  grip.  Fog  fell  concealing 
the  ships  from  one  another,  except  for  the  ensigns 
at  the  mastheads,  which  showed  all  the  fleet  anchored 
southward  except  Iberville's  Pelican.  For  eighteen 
days  the  impatient  raider  found  himself  forcibly 
gripped  to  the  ice  floes  in  fog,  his  ship  crushed  and 
banged  and  bodily  lifted  until  a  powder  blast  re- 
lieved pressure,  or  holes  drilled  and  filled  with  bombs 
broke  the  ice  crush,  or  unshipping  the  rudder,  his 
own  men  disembarked  and  up  to  the  waist  in  ice 
slush  towed  Tlie  Pelican  forward. 

On  the  25th  of  August  at  four  in  the  morning,  the 
fog  suddenly  lifted.  Iberville  saw  that  The 
Palmier  had  been  carried  back  in  the  straits.  The 
Wasp  and  Violent  had  disappeared,  but  straight  to 
the   fore,  ice- jammed,  were    The  Profound,  and — 

243 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Iberville  could  scarcely  believe  the  evidence  of 
his  eyes — three  English  men-of-war,  The  Hamp- 
shire, and  Dering,  and  Hudsoii's  Bay  closing  in  a 
circle  round  the  ill-fated  and  imprisoned  French 
ship.  Just  at  that  moment,  the  ice  loosened.  Iber- 
ville was  off  like  a  bird  in  The  Pelican,  not  waiting  to 
see  what  became  of  The  Profound,  which  escaped 
from  the  ice  that  night  after  a  day's  bombardment 
when  the  English  were  in  the  act  of  running  across 
the  ice  for  a  hand-to-hand  fight. 

On  the  3rd  of  September,  Iberville  anchored 
before  Port  Nelson.  Anxiously,  for  two  days,  he 
scanned  the  sea  for  the  rest  of  his  fleet.  On  the 
morning  of  the  fifth,  the  peaked  sails  of  three  vessels 
rose  above  the  offing.  Raising  anchor,  Iberville 
hastened  out  to  meet  them,  and  signaled  a  welcome. 
No  response  signaled  back.  The  horrified  watch 
at  the  masthead  called  down  some  warning.  Then 
the  full  extent  of  the  terrible  mistake  dawned  on 
Iberville.  These  were  not  his  consort  ships  at 
all.  They  were  the  English  men-of-war,  The  Hamp- 
shire, Captain  Fletcher,  fifty-two  guns  and  sixty 
soldiers;  The  Dering,  Captain  Grimmington,  thirty 
guns  and  sixty  men ;  The  Hudson^ s  Bay,  Edgecombe 
and  Smithsend,  thirty-two  guns  and  fifty-five  men — 
hemming  him  in  a  fatal  circle  between  the  English 
fort  on  the  land  and  their  own  cannon  to  sea. 

244 


Le  Mayne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

One  can  guess  the  wild  whoop  of  jubilation  that 
went  up  from  the  Englishmen  to  see  their  enemy  of 
ten  years'  merciless  raids,  now  hopelessly  trapped 
between  their  fleet  and  the  fort.  The  English  ves- 
sels had  the  wind  in  their  favor  and  raced  over  the 
waves  all  sails  set  like  a  war  troop  keen  for  prey. 
Iberville  didn't  wait.  He  had  weighed  anchor  to 
sail  out  when  he  thought  the  vessels  were  his  own, 
and  now  he  kept  unswervingly  on  his  course.  Of 
his  original  crew,  forty  were  invalided.  Some 
twenty-five  had  been  sent  ashore  to  reconnoiter  the 
fort.  Counting  the  Canadians  and  Indians  taken  on 
at  Newfoundland,  he  could  muster  only  one  hundred 
and  fifty  fighting  men.  Quickly,  ropes  were  stretched 
to  give  the  mariners  hand-hold  over  the  frost-slippery 
decks.  Stoppers  were  ripped  from  the  fifty  cannon, 
and  the  batterymen  below,  under  La  Salle  and 
Grandville,  had  stripped  naked  in  preparation  for 
the  hell  of  flame  and  heat  that  was  to  be  their  portion 
in  the  impending  battle.  Bienville,  Iberville's 
brother,  swimg  the  infantrymen  in  line  above  decks, 
swords  and  pistols  prepared  for  the  hand-to-hand 
grapple.  De  la  Potherie  got  the  Canadians  to  the 
forecastle,  knives  and  war  hatchets  out,  bodies 
stripped,  all  ready  to  board  when  the  ships  knocked 
keels.  Iberville  knew  it  was  to  be  like  those  old- 
time  raids — a  Spartan  conflict — a  fight  to  the  death; 

245 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


death  or  victory;  and  he  swept  right  up  to  The 
Hampshire,  Fletcher's  frigate,  the  strongest  of  the 
foe,  where  every  shot  would  tell.  The  Hampshire 
shifted  broadsides  to  the  French;  and  at  nine  in  the 
morning,  the  battle  began. 

The  Hampshire  let  fly  two  roaring  cannonades 
that  ploughed  up  the  decks  of  The  Pelican  and 
stripped  the  French  bare  of  masts  to  the  hull.  At  the 
same  instant,  Grimmington's  Bering  and  Smith- 
send's  Hudson's  Bay  circled  to  the  left  of  the  French 
and  poured  a  stream  of  musketry  fire  across  The 
Pelican's  stern.  At  one  fell  blast,  forty  French  were 
mowed  down ;  but  the  batterymen  below  never  ceased 
their  crash  of  bombs  straight  into  The  Hampshire's 
hull. 

Iberville  shouted  for  the  infantrymen  to  fire  into 
The  Bering's  forecastle,  to  pick  off  Grimmington 
if  they  could ;  and  for  the  Canadian  sharpshooters  to 
rake  the  decks  of  The  Htidson's  Bay. 

For  four  hours,  the  three-cornered  battle  raged. 
The  ships  were  so  close,  shout  and  counter-shout 
could  be  heard  across  decks.  Faces  were  singed 
with  the  closeness  of  the  musketry  fire.  Ninety 
French  had  been  wounded.  The  Pelican'' s  decks 
swam  in  blood  that  froze  to  ice,  slippery  as  glass,  and 
trickled  down  the  clinker  boards  in  reddening 
splashes.    Grape  shot  and  grenade  had  set  the  fallen 

246 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

sails  on  fire.  Sails  and  mastpolcs  and  splintered 
davits  were  a  mass  of  roaring  flame  that  would 
presently  extend  to  the  powder  magazines  and  blow 
all  to  eternity.  Railings  had  gone  over  decks;  and 
when  the  ship  rolled,  only  the  tangle  of  burning 
debris  kept  those  on  deck  from  washing  into  the  sea. 
The  bridge  was  crumbling.  A  shot  had  torn  the 
high  prow  away;  and  still  the  batterymen  below 
poured  their  storm  of  fire  and  bomb  into  the  English 
hull.  The  fighters  were  so  close,  one  old  record 
says,  and  the  holes  torn  by  the  bombs  so  large  in  the 
hull  of  each  ship  that  the  gimners  on  The  Pelican 
were  looking  into  the  eyes  of  the  smoke-grimed 
men  below  the  decks  of  The  Hampshire. 

For  three  hours,  the  English  had  tacked  to  board 
The  PelicaUj  and  for  three  hours  the  mastless, 
splintered  Pelican  had  fought  like  a  demon  to  cripple 
her  enemy's  approach.  The  blood-grimed,  half- 
naked  men  of  both  decks  had  rushed  en  masse  for  the 
last  leap,  the  hand-to-hand  fight,  when  a  frantic 
shout  went  up! 

Then  silence,  and  fearful  confusion,  and  a  mad 
panic  back  from  the  tilting  edges  of  the  two  vessels 
with  cries  from  the  wounded  above  the  shriek  of  the 
sea! 

The  batteries  of  The  Hampshire  had  suddenly 
silenced.    The  great  ship  refused  to  answer  to  the 

247 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

wheel.  That  persistent,  undeviating  fire  bursting 
from  the  sides  of  The  Pelican  had  done  its  work. 
The  Hampshire  gave  a  quick,  back  lurch.  Before 
the  amazed  Frenchmen  could  believe  their  senses, 
amid  the  roar  of  flame  and  crashing  billows  and  hiss 
of  fires  extinguished  in  an  angry  sea.  The  Hampshire, 
all  sails  set,  settled  and  sank  like  a  stone  amid  the 
engulfing  billows.  Not  a  soul  of  her  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men — one  hundred  and  ninety  mariners 
and  servants,  with  sixty  soldiers — escaped. 

The  screams  of  the  struggling  seamen  had  not  died 
on  the  waves  before  Iberville  had  turned  the  bat- 
teries of  his  shattered  ship  full  force  on  Smithsend's 
Htidson's  Bay.  Promptly,  The  Hudson'' s  Bay  struck 
colors,  but  while  Iberville  was  engaged  boarding 
his  captive  and  taking  over  ninety  prisoners,  Grim- 
mington  on  The  Bering  showed  swift  heel  and 
gained  refuge  in  Fort  Nelson. 

In  the  fury  and  heat  of  the  fight,  the  French  had 
not  noticed  the  gathering  storm  that  now  broke  with 
hurricane  gusts  of  sleet  and  rain.  The  whistling  in 
the  cordage  became  a  shrill  shriek — warning  a  bliz- 
zard. Presently  the  billows  were  washing  over  decks 
with  nothing  visible  of  the  wheel  but  the  drenched 
helmsman  clinging  for  life  to  his  place.  The  pan- 
cake ice  pounded  the  ships'  sides  with  a  noise  of 

248 


Le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

thunder.  Mist  and  darkness  and  roaring  sleet 
drowned  the  death  cries  of  the  wounded,  washed  and 
tossed  and  jammed  against  the  railing  by  the  pound- 
ing seas.  The  Pelican  could  only  drive  through  the 
darkness  before  the  storm-flaw,  "the  dead"  says  an 
old  record,  ''floating  about  on  the  decks  among  the 
living."  The  hawser,  that  had  towed  the  captive 
ship,  snapped  like  thread.  Captor  and  captive  in 
vain  threw  out  anchors.  The  anchors  raked  bottom. 
Cables  were  cut,  and  the  two  ships  drove  along  the 
sands.  The  deck  of  The  Pelican  was  icy  with  blood. 
Every  shock  of  smashing  billows  jumbled  dead  and 
dying  en  masse.  The  night  grew  black  as  pitch. 
The  little  railing  that  still  clung  to  the  shattered  decks 
of  The  Pelican  was  now  washed  away,  and  the  waves 
carried  off  dead  and  wounded.  Tables  were  hurled 
from  the  cabin.  The  rudder  was  broken,  and  the 
water  was  already  to  the  bridge  of  the  foundering 
ship,  when  the  hull  began  to  split,  and  The  Pelican 
buried  her  prow  in  the  sands,  six  miles  from  the  fort. 
All  small  boats  had  been  shot  away.  The  canoes 
of  the  Canadians  swamped  in  the  heavy  sea  as  they 
were  launched.  Tying  the  spars  of  the  shattered 
masts  in  four-sided  racks,  Iberville  had  the  sur- 
viving wounded  bound  to  these  and  towed  ashore  by 
the  others,  half-swimming,  half-wading.  Many  of 
the  men  sprang  into  the  icy  sea  bare  to  mid-waist  as 

249 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

they  had  fought.  Guns  and  powderhoms  carried 
ashore  in  the  swimmers'  teeth  were  all  that  were 
saved  of  the  wreck.  Eighteen  more  men  lost  their 
lives  going  ashore  in  the  dark.  For  twelve  hours 
they  had  fought  without  pause  for  food,  and  now 
shivering  round  fires  kindled  in  the  bush,  the  half- 
famished  men  devoured  moss  and  seaweed  raw. 
Two  feet  of  snow  lay  on  the  ground,  and  when  the 
men  lighted  fires  and  gathered  round  in  groups  to 
warm  themselves,  they  became  targets  for  sharp- 
shooters from  the  fort,  who  aimed  at  the  camp  fires. 
Smithsend,  who  escaped  from  the  wTecked  Hudson* s 
Bay  and  Grimmington,  who  had  succeeded  in  taking 
The  Dering  into  harbor — put  Governor  Bailey  on 
guard.  Their  one  hope  was  that  Iberville  might 
be  drowned. 

It  was  at  this  terrible  pass  that  the  other  ships  of 
Iberville's  fleet  came  to  the  rescue.  They,  too,  had 
suffered  from  the  storm.  The  Violent  having  gone  to 
bottom;  The  Palmier  having  lost  her  steering  gear, 
another  ship  her  rudder. 

Nelson  or  York  under  the  English  was  the  usual 
four-bastioned  fur  post,  with  palisades  and  houses  of 
white  fir  logs  a  foot  thick,  the  pickets  punctured  for 
small  arms,  with  embrasures  for  some  hundred 
cannon.  It  stood  back  from  Hayes  River,  four  miles 
up  from  the  sea.    The  seamen  of  the  wrecked  Hud- 

250 


Le  Moyne  d' Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

son's  Bay  carried  word  to  Governor  Bailey  of  Iber- 
ville's desperate  plight.  Nor  was  Bailey  inclined  to 
surrender  even  after  the  other  ships  came  to  Iber- 
ville's aid.  With  Bailey  in  the  fort  were  Kelsey, 
and  both  Grimmington  and  Smithsend  who  had  once 
been  captives  with  the  French  in  Quebec.  When 
Iberville's  messenger  was  led  into  the  council  hall 
with  flag  of  truce  and  bandaged  eyes  to  demand 
surrender,  Smithsend  advised  re'sistance  till  the  Eng- 
lish knew  whether  Iberville  had  been  lost  in  the 
wreck.  Fog  favored  the  French.  By  the  nth,  they 
had  been  able  to  haul  their  cannon  ashore  unde- 
tected by  the  English  and  so  near  the  fort  that  the 
first  intimation  was  the  blow  of  hammers  erecting 
platforms.  This  drew  the  fire  of  the  English,  and 
the  cannonading  began  on  both  sides.  On  the  12th, 
Serigny  entered  the  council  again  to  demand  sur- 
render. 

"If  you  refuse,  there  will  be  no  quarter,"  he 
warned. 

"Quarter  be  cursed,"  thundered  the  old  governor. 
Then  turning  to  his  men,  "Forty  pounds  sterling  to 
every  man  who  fights." 

But  the  Canadians  with  all  the  savagery  of  Indian 
warfare,  had  begun  hacking  down  palisades  to  the 
rear. 

Serigny  came  once  more  from  the  French.  "They 
251 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

are  desperate,"  he  urged,  ''they  must  take  the  fort, 
or  pass  the  winter  like  beasts  in  the  wilds."  Bombs 
had  been  shattering  the  houses.  Bailey  was  induced 
to  capitulate,  but  game  to  the  end,  haggled  for  the 
best  bargain  he  could  get.  Neither  the  furs  nor  the 
armaments  of  the  fort  were  granted  him,  but  he  was 
permitted  to  march  out  with  people  unharmed,  drums 
beating,  flags  unfurled,  ball  in  mouth,  matches 
lighted,  bag  and  baggage,  fife  screaming  its  shrillest 
defiance — to  march  out  with  all  this  brave  pomp  to 
a  desolate  winter  in  the  wilds,  while  the  bush-lopers, 
led  by  Boisbriant,  ransacked  the  fort.  In  the  sur- 
render, Grimmington  had  bargained  for  his  ship, 
and  he  now  sailed  for  England  with  the  refugees, 
reaching  the  Thames  on  October  26.  Bailey  and 
Smithsend  with  other  refugees,  resolutely  marched 
overland  in  the  teeth  of  wintry  blasts  to  Governor 
Knight  at  Albany.  How  Bailey  reached  England,  I 
do  not  know.  He  must  have  gone  overland  with 
French  coureurs  to  Quebec;  for  he  could  not  have 
sailed  through  the  straits  after  October,  and  he  ar- 
rived in  England  by  December. 

That  the  blow  of  the  last  loss  paralyzed  the 
Company— need  not  be  told.  Of  all  their  forts  on  the 
bay,  they  now  had  only  Albany,  and  were  in  debt  for 
the  last  year's  ships.  They  had  not  money  to  pay 
the  captains'  wages.    Nevertheless,  they  borrowed 

252 


Le  Moync  iCIberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 

money  enough  to  pay  the  wages  of  all  the  seamen 
and  ;ig2o  apiece  extra,  for  those  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  fight.  Just  at  this  time,  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick 
put  an  end  to  war  between  England  and  France,  but, 
as  far  as  the  Company  was  concerned,  it  left  them 
worse  than  before,  for  it  provided  that  the  con- 
testants on  the  bay  should  remain  as  they  were  at 
the  time,  which  meant  that  France  held  all  the  bay 
except  Albany.  Before  this  campaign,  the  loss  of 
the  English  Adventurers  from  the  French  raiders  had 
been  £100,000.     Now  the  loss  totaled  more  than 

;^200,000. 

Chouart  Groseillers  had  long  since  been  created  a 
nobleman  for  returning  to  France.  In  spite  of  the 
peace,  this  enigmatical  declaration  is  found  in  the 
private  papers  of  the  King  of  France: 

"  Owing  to  the  peace,  the  King  of  England  has  given 
positive  orders  that  goods  taken  at  Hudson  Bay,  must 
be  paid  for;  but  the  French  King  relies  on  getting  out 
of  this  affair." 

Iberville  sailed  away  to  fresh  glories.  A  seign- 
iory had  been  granted  him  along  the  Bay  of  Chal- 
eurs.  In  1699,  he  was  created  Chevalier  of  St.  Louis. 
The  rest  of  his  years  were  passed  founding  the  colony 
of  Louisiana,  and  he  visited  Boston  and  New  York 
harbors  with  plans  of  conquest  in  his  mind,  though 

as  the  Earl  of  Belomont  reported  ''he  pretended  it 

253 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  for  wood  and  water."  In  tile  war  of  the  Bar- 
badoes,  Iberville  had  hoped  to  capture  slaves  for 
Louisiana,  and  he  had  transported  hundreds,  but 
yellow  fever  raged  in  the  South  and  Iberville  fell 
a  victim  to  it  on  July  9,  1706,  at  Havana.  He  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  picturesque  type  of  Canada's 
wildwood  chivalry,  with  all  its  savage  faults  and 
romantic  heroism. 

And  His  Majesty,  the  King  of  France,  well  pleased 
with  the  success  of  his  brave  raiders  sends  out  a  dis- 
patch that  reads:  "His  Majesty  declines  to  accept 
the  white  bear  sent  to  him  from  Hudson  Bay,  but 
he  will  permit  the  fur  traders  to  exhibit  the  animal." 

Notes  on  Chapter  XIII. — ^The  English  side  of  the  story  related 
in  this  chapter  is  taken  from  the  records  of  Hudson's  Bay  House, 
London,  and  of  the  Public  Records  Office.  The  French  side 
of  the  story,  from  the  State  Papers  of  the  Marine  Archives. 
Bacqueville  de  la  Potherie,  who  was  present  in  the  fight  of  '97, 
gives  excellent  details  in  his  Historte  de  VAmeriqtie  Septentrio- 
nale  (1792).  Jeretnie,  who  was  interpreter  at  York,  wrote  an 
account,  to  be  found  among  other  voyages  in  the  Bernard  Col- 
lection of  Amsterdam.  For  side-lights  from  early  writers,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Doc.  Relatifs  Nouvelle  France;  Oldmixon; 
Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.;  Quebec  Hist.  So.  Collection  in  which  will  be 
found  Abb^  Belmont's  Relation  and  Dollier  de  Casson's. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  one  of  the  conditions  of  surrender  was 
that  the  English  should  be  permitted  to  march  out  "match- 
lighted;  ball  in  mouth."  The  latter  term  needs  no  explanation. 
The  ball  was  held  ready  to  be  rammed  down  the  barrel.  With 
reference  to  the  term  "match-lighted,"  in  the  novel,  "Heralds 
of  Empire,"  I  had  referred  to  "matches"  when  the  argus-eyed 
critic  came  down  with  the  criticism  that  "matches"  were  not 
invented  until  after  1800.  I  stood  corrected  till  I  happened 
to  be  in  the  Tower  of  London  in  the  room  given  over  to  the 
collection  of  old  armor.     I  asked  one  of  the  doughty  old  ' '  beef 

254 


Le  Moyne  d'Iberville  Sweeps  the  Bay 


eaters"  to  take  down  a  musket  of  that  period,  and  show  me 
exactly  what  "match-lighted"  must  have  meant.  The  old 
soldier's  explanation  was  this:  In  time  of  war,  not  flint  but  a 
little  bit  of  inflammable  punk  did  duty  as  "match-lighter." 
This  was  fastened  below  the  trigger  like  the  percussion  cap  of  a 
later  day.  The  privilege  of  surrendering  "match-lighted" 
meant  with  the  punk  below  the  trigger.  I  offer  this  explana- 
tion for  what  it  is  worth,  and  as  he  is  the  keeper  of  the  finest 
collection  of  old  armor  in  the  world,  the  chances  are  he  is  right 
and  that  matches  preceded  1800. 

At  first  sight,  there  may  seem  to  be  discrepancies  in  the 
numbers  on  the  English  ships,  but  the  200  mariners  were  extra 
men,  in  addition  to  the  50  or  60  seamen  on  each  frigate,  and  the 
50  or  60  servants  on  each  boat  sent  out  to  strengthen  the  forts. 


255 


CHAPTER  XIV 

1688-1710 

WHAT  BECAME  OF  RADISSON?      NEW  FACTS   ON  THE 
LAST   DAYS    OF   THE   FAMOUS   PATHFINDER 

WHAT  became  of  Radisson?  It  seems  im- 
possible that  the  man,  who  set  France 
and  England  by  the  ears  for  a  century, 
and  led  the  way  to  the  pathfinding  of  half  America, 
should  have  dropped  so  completely  into  oblivion 
that  not  a  scrap  is  recorded  concerning  the  last 
twenty-five  years  of  his  life.  Was  he  run  to  earth 
by  the  bailiffs  of  London,  like  Thackeray's  "Vir- 
ginian?" Or  did  he  become  the  lion  tamed,  the 
eagle  with  its  wings  clipped,  to  be  patronized  by 
supercilious  nonentities?  Or  did  he  die  like  Ledyard 
of  a  heart  broken  by  hope  deferred? 

Radisson,  the  boy,  slim  and  swarth  as  an  Indian, 
running  a  mad  race  for  life  through  mountain  tor- 
rents that  would  throw  his  savage  pursuers  off  the 
trail — ^we  can  imagine;  but  not  Radisson  running 
from  a  London  bailiff.  Leading  flotillas  of  fur 
brigades  up  the  Ottawa  across  Lake  Superior  to  the 

256 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


Great  Northwest — he  is  a  familiar  figure,  but  not 
stroked  and  petted  and  patronized  by  the  frowzy 
duchesses  of  Charles  the  Second's  slovenly  court. 
Yet  from  the  time  Radisson  ceased  to  come  to 
Hudson  Bay  during  Iberville's  raids,  he  drops  as 
completely  out  of  history  as  if  he  had  been  lost  in 
Milton's  Serbonian  Bog.  One  historian  describes 
him  as  assassinated  in  Quebec,  another  as  dying 
destitute.  Both  statements  are  guesses,  but  from  the 
dusty  records  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company — many 
of  them  undisturbed  since  Radisson's  time — can  be 
gleaned  a  complete  account  of  the  game  pathfinder's 
life  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  very  front  page  of  the  first  minute  book  kept 
by  the  Company,  contains  account  of  Radisson — an 
order  for  Alderman  Portman  to  pay  Radisson  and 
Groseillers  £5  a  year  for  expenses — chiefly  wine  and 
fresh  fruit,  •  as  later  entries  show.  There  were 
present  at  this  meeting  of  the  Company,  adventurers 
of  as  romantic  a  glamor  as  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's 
heroes  or  a  Captain  Kidd.  There  was  the  Earl  of 
Craven,  married  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  There 
was  Ashley,  ambitious  for  the  earldom  that  came 
later,  and  with  the  reputation  that  "he  would  rob 
the  devil,  himself,  and  the  church  altars."  It  was 
Ashley,  when  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  who 
charged  a  bribe  of  £100  to  every  man  appointed  in 

257 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


the  government  services,  though  he  concealed  his 
peculations  under  stately  manners  and  gold  lace. 
Notoriety  was  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  court  beauties 
at  that  time,  and  Ashley's  wife  earned  public  notice 
by  ostentatiously  driving  in  a  glass  coach  that  was 
forever  splintering  in  collision  with  some  other  car- 
riage or  going  to  bits  over  the  clumsy  cobblestones. 
Old  Sir  George  Carterett  of  New  Jersey  was  now 
treasurer  of  the  Navy.  Sir  John  Robinson  was  com- 
mander of  the  Tower.  Griffith  was  known  as  the 
handsome  dandy  of  court  balls.  Sir  John  Kirke, 
the  Huguenot,  was  a  royal  pensioner  of  fighting 
blood,  whose  ancestors  had  captured  Quebec.  The 
meeting  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Adventurers  was  held 
at  the  house  of  Sir  Robert  Viner,  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  renowned  for  the  richest  wife,  the  finest  art 
galleries,  the  handsomest  conservatories  in  England. 
It  was  to  Viner' s  that  Charles  the  Second  came  with 
his  drunken  crew  to  fiddle  and  muddle  and  run  the 
giddy  course,  that  danced  the  Stuart's  off  the  throne. 
Mr.  Young  was  a  man  of  fashion  as  well  as  a  mer- 
chant, so  famous  for  amateur  acting  that  he  often 
took  the  place  of  the  court  actors  at  a  moment's 
notice. 

These  were  Radisson's  associates,  the  French- 
man's friends  when  he  came  to  London  fresh  from 
the  wilderness  in  his  thirtieth  year  with  the  explora- 

258 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


tion  of  the  North  and  the  West  to  liis  credit.  None 
knew  better  than  he,  the  money  value  of  his  dis- 
coveries. And  Radisson  knew  the  way  to  this  land. 
By  the  lifting  of  his  hand,  he  could  turn  this  wealth 
into  the  coffers  of  the  court  adventurers.  If  the  fur 
trade  was  a  gamble — and  everything  on  earth  was 
gamble  in  the  reign  of  Charles — Radisson  held  the 
winning  cards.  The  gamesters  of  that  gambling  age 
gathered  round  him  like  rooks  round  a  pigeon,  to 
pick  his  pockets — politely  and  according  to  the  codes 
of  good  breeding,  of  course — and  to  pump  his  brain 
of  every  secret,  that  could  be  turned  into  pounds 
sterling — politely,  also,  of  course.  Very  generous, 
very  pleasant,  very  suave  of  fair  promises  were  the 
gay  adventurers,  but  withal  slippery  as  the  finery  of 
their  silk  ruffles  or  powdered  periwigs. 

Did  Radisson  keep  his  head?  Steadier  heads 
have  gone  giddy  with  the  sudden  plunge  from  wil- 
derness ways  to  court  pomp.  Sir  James  Hayes, 
Prince  Rupert's  secretary,  declares  in  a  private  docu- 
ment that  the  French  explorer  at  this  time  ^^ deluded 
the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kirke  into  secretly  marry- 
ing him,"  so  that  Radisson  may  have  been  caught  in 
the  madcap  doings  of  the  court  dissipations  when 
no  rake's  progress  was  complete  unless  he  persuaded 
some  errant  damsel  to  jump  over  the  back  wall  and 
elope,  though  there  was  probably  no  hindrance  in 

259 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  world  to  ordinary  lovers  walking  openly  out  of 
the  front  door  and  being  married  properly.  The 
fact  that  Radisson  was  a  penniless  adventurer  and  a 
Catholic,  while  his  bride  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich 
Puritan,  may  have  been  the  explanation  of  the 
secrecy,  if  indeed,  there  is  any  truth  at  all  in  the 
rumor  repeated  by  Hayes. 

For  seven  years  after  he  came  to  London,  the  love 
of  wilderness  places,  of  strange  new  lands,  clung  to 
Radisson.  He  spent  the  summers  on  Hudson  Bay 
for  the  Company,  opening  new  forts,  cruising  up  the 
unknown  coasts,  bartering  with  new  tribes  of  Indians, 
and  while  not  acting  as  governor  of  any  fur  post, 
seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  general  superintendent, 
to  keep  check  on  the  Company's  officers  and  prevent 
fraud,  for  when  the  cargoes  arrived  at  Portsmouth, 
orders  were  given  for  the  Captains  not  to  stir  with- 
out convoy  to  come  to  the  Thames,  but  for  "if  r.  Rad- 
isson to  take  horse"  and  ride  to  London  with  the  secret 
reports.  During  the  winters  in  London,  Sir  John 
Robinson  of  the  Tower  and  Radisson  attended  to 
the  sales  of  the  beaver,  bought  the  goods  for  the  next 
year's  ships,  examined  the  cannon  that  were  to  man 
the  forts  on  the  bay  and  attended  to  the  general  bus- 
iness of  the  Company.  Merchants,  who  were  share- 
holders, advanced  goods  for  the  yearly  outfit.  Other 
shareholders,  who  owned  ships,  loaned  or  gave  ves- 

260 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


sels  for  the  voyage.  Wages  were  paid  as  money  came 
in  from  the  beaver  sales.  So  far,  Radisson  and  his 
associates  were  share  and  share  alike,  all  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  future  prosperity.  Radisson  and 
his  brother-in-law  drew  from  the  beaver  sales  during 
these  seven  years  (1667-1673)  £287,  about  $2,000 
each  for  living  expenses. 

But  now  came  a  change.  The  Company's  ships 
were  bought  and  paid  for,  the  Company's  forts  built 
and  equipped — all  from  the  sales  of  the  cargoes 
brought  home  under  Radisson's  superintendence. 
Now  that  profits  were  to  be  paid,  what  share  was 
his?  The  King  had  given  him  a  gold  chain  and 
medal  for  his  services,  but  to  him  the  Company  owed 
its  existence.  What  was  his  share  to  be?  In  a  word, 
was  he  to  be  one  of  the  Adventurers  or  an  outsider? 
Radisson  had  asked  the  Adventurers  for  an  agree- 
ment. Agreement  ?  A  year  passed,  Radisson  hung 
on,  living  from  hand  to  mouth  in  London,  re- 
ceiving £10  one  month,  £2  the  next,  an  average  of 
$5  a  week,  compelled  to  supplicate  the  Company 
for  every  penny  he  needed — a  very  excellent  arrange- 
ment for  the  Gentlemen  Adventurers.  It  compelled 
Radisson  to  go  to  them  for  favors,  instead  of  their 
going  to  Radisson;  though  from  Radisson's  point 
of  view,  the  boot  may  have  seemed  to  be  on  the 
wrong  leg.    Finally,  as  told  in  a  preceding  chapter 

261 


The  Conquest  oj  the  Great  Northwest 

the  committee  met  and  voted  him  '';^ioo  per  ann. 
from  the  time  oj  his  arrival  in  London,  and  if  it  shall 
please  God  to  bless  this  company  with  good  success, 
they  will  then  resume  the  consideration  oj  Mr.  Rad- 
isson."  One  hundred  pounds  was  just  half  of  one 
per  cent,  of  the  yearly  cargoes.  It  was  the  salary 
of  the  captains  and  petty  governors  on  the  bay. 

Radisson  probably  had  his  own  opinion  of  a  con- 
tract that  was  to  depend  more  on  the  will  of  Heaven 
than  on  the  legal  bond  of  his  partners.  He  quit 
England  in  disgust  for  the  French  navy.  Then 
came  the  raids  on  Nelson,  the  order  of  the  French 
Court  to  return  to  England  and  his  resumption  of 
service  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  up  to  the 
time  Iberville  drove  the  English  from  the  bay  and 
French  traders  were  not  wanted  in  the  English 
service. 

For  changing  his  flag  the  last  time,  such  abuse  was 
heaped  on  Radisson  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
was  finally  constrained  to  protest:  '^that  the  said 
Radisson  doth  not  deserve  those  ill  names  the  French 
give  him.  Ij  the  English  doe  not  give  him  all  his 
Due,  he  may  rely  on  the  justice  oj  his  cause. ''^ 

Indeed,  the  English  company  might  date  the  be- 
ginning of  the  French  raids  that  harried  their  forts 
for  a  hundred  years  from  Radisson's  first  raid  at 
Port  Nelson;  but  they  did  not  foresee  this. 

262 


WJiat  Became  of  Radisson? 


The  man  was  as  irrepressible  as  a  disturbed 
hornets'  nest — break  up  his  plans,  and  it  only  seemed 
to  scatter  them  with  wider  mischief.  How  the 
French  Court  ordered  Radisson  back  to  England 
has  already  been  told.  He  was  the  scapegoat  for 
court  intrigue.  Nothing  now  was  too  good  for 
Radisson — with  the  English.  The  Adventurers  pre- 
sented him  with  a  purse  ^^]or  his  extraordinary  ser- 
vices to  their  great  liking  and  satisfaction.^^  A  dealer 
is  ordered  "to  keep  Mr.  Radisson  in  stock  of  fresh  pro- 
visions,^^ and  the  Company  desires  "that  Mr.  Rad- 
isson shall  have  a  hogshead  of  clareV^  presumably 
to  drown  his  memory  of  the  former  treatment.  My 
Lord  Preston  is  given  a  present  of  furs  for  pursuad- 
ing  Radisson  to  return.  So  is  "Esquire  Young," 
the  gay  merchant  of  Cornhill,  who  was  Radisson's 
best  friend  in  England,  and  Sir  James  Hayes,  who 
had  been  so  furious  against  him  only  a  few  months 
before,  begs  Monsieur  to  accept  that  silver  tankard 
as  a  token  of  esteem  from  the  Adventurers  (£io  4s, 
I  found  it  cost  by  the  account  books.) 

Only  one  doubt  seemed  to  linger  in  the  minds  of 
the  Company.  In  spite  of  King  Louis'  edict  for- 
bidding French  interlopers  on  Hudson's  Bay,  secret 
instructions  of  an  opposite  tenor  were  directing 
Iberville's  raiders  overland.  If  Radisson  was  to 
act  as  superintendent  on  the  bay,  chief  councillor 

263 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

at  Port  Nelson,  the  Company  must  have  bonds  as 
well  as  oath  for  his  fidelity,  and  so  the  entry  in  the 
minute  books  of  1685  records:  ^'At  this  committee, 
Mons.  Pierre  Radisson  signed  and  sealed  the  cove- 
nants with  the  company,  and  signed  a  hand  of  ;^2,ooo 
to  perform  covenants  with  the  company,  dated  1 1  May. 
.  .  .  Dwelling  at  the  end  of  Seething  Lane  in 
Tower  Street.''^ 

I  think  it  was  less  than  ten  minutes  from  the  time 
I  found  that  entry  when  I  was  over  in  Seething  Lane. 
It  is  in  a  part  of  old  London  untouched  by  the  Great 
Fire  running  up  from  the  famous  road  to  the  Tower, 
in  length  not  greater  than  between  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Avenues,  New  York.  Opening  off  Great  Tower 
Street,  it  ends  at  Crutched  Friars.  At  the  foot  of 
the  lane  is  the  old  church  of  All  Hallows  Barking, 
whose  dial  only  was  burned  by  the  fire;  at  the  top, 
the  little  antiquated  church  of  St.  Olave  Hart's, 
whose  motley  architecture  with  leaning  walls  dates 
from  the  days  of  the  Normans.  If  Radisson  lived 
'^at  the  end  of  Seething  Lane,"  his  house  must  have 
been  just  opposite  St.  Olave  Hart's,  for  the  quaint 
church  with  its  graveyard  occupies  the  entire  left 
comer.  In  this  lane  dwelt  the  merchant  princes  of 
London.  Samuel  Pepys,  Secretary  to  the  Navy, 
who  thought  his  own  style  of  living  "mighty  fine" 
—as  he  describes  it— preening  and  pluming  himself 

264 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


on  the  beautiful  panels  he  had  placed  in  his  man- 
sion, must  have  been  a  near  neighbor  of  Radisson's; 
for  in  the  diarist's  description  of  the  fire,  he  speaks 
of  it  coming  to  Barking  Church  "at  the  bottom  of 
our  lane."  But  a  stone's  throw  away  is  the  Tower, 
in  those  days  commanded  by  Radisson's  friend,  Sir 
John  Robinson.  The  Kirkes,  the  Colletons,  Griffith 
the  dandy  of  the  balls.  Sir  Robert  Viner,  the  rich 
Lord-Mayor;  Esquire  Young  of  Cornhill — all  had 
dwellings  within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  Seething 
Lane. 

The  whereabouts  of  Radisson  in  London  explain 
how  the  journals  of  his  first  four  voyages  were  lost 
for  exactly  two  hundred  years  and  then  found  in  the 
Pepys  Collection  of  the  Bodleian  Library.  He  had 
given  them  either  directly  or  through  the  mutual 
friend  Carterett,  to  his  neighbor  Pepys,  who  was  a 
keen  collector  of  all  matter  appertaining  to  the  navy, 
and  after  being  lost  for  years,  the  Pepys  Collection 
only  passed  to  the  Bodleian  in  recent  days. 

The  place  where  Radisson  lived  shows,  too,  that 
he  was  no  backstairs  sycophant  hanging  on  the  favor 
of  the  great,  no  beggarly  renegade  hungry  for  the 
crumbs  that  fell  from  the  tables  of  those  merchant 
princes.  It  proves  Radisson  a  front-door  acquaint- 
ance of  the  Gentlemen  Adventurers.  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wren,  the  famous  architect  who  was  a  share- 

265 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

holder  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  at  this  time, 
thought  himself  well  paid  at  £200  a  year  for  super- 
intending the  building  of  St.  Paul's.  Radisson's 
agreement  on  returning  to  the  Adventurers  from 
France,  was  for  a  salary  of  ;^5o  a  year,  paid  quar- 
terly, £^0  paid  yearly  and  dividends — running  as 
high  as  50  per  cent. — on  ;^2oo  of  stock — making  in 
all,  practically  the  same  income  as  a  man  of  Wren's 
standing. 

Second-rate  warehouses  and  dingy  business  offices 
have  replaced  the  mansions  of  the  great  merchants 
on  Seething  Lane,  but  the  two  old  churches  stand 
the  same  as  in  the  days  of  Radisson,  with  the  massive 
weather-stained  stone  work  uncouth,  as  if  built  by 
the  Saxons,  inner  pillars  and  pointed  arches  showing 
the  work  of  the  Normans.  Both  have  an  antique 
flavor  as  of  old  wine.  The  Past  seems  to  reach  for- 
ward and  touch  you  tangibly  from  the  moldering 
brass  plates  on  the  walls,  and  the  flagstone  of  the 
aisles  so  very  old  the  chiseled  names  of  the  dead 
below  are  peeling  off  like  paper.  The  great  mer- 
chant princes— the  Colletons,  the  Kirkes,  the  Rob- 
insons, Radisson's  friends — lie  in  effigy  around  the 
church  above  their  graves.  It  was  to  St.  Olave's 
across  the  way,  Pepys  used  to  come  to  hear  Hawkins, 
the  great  Oxford  scholar,  also  one  of  the  Adventurers 
—preach;  and  a  tablet  tells  where  the  body  of  Pepys' 

266 


What  Became  of  Raclisson? 


gay  wife  lies.  From  the  walls,  a  memorial  tablet  to 
Pepys,  himself,  smiles  down  in  l)eplumed  hat  and 
curled  periwig  and  velvet  cloak,  perhaps  that  very 
cloak  made  in  imitation  of  the  one  worn  in  Hyde 
Park  by  the  King  and  of  which  he  was — as  he  writes 
— "so  mighty  proud."  The  roar  of  a  world's  traffic 
beats  against  the  tranquil  walls  of  the  little  church; 
but  where  sleeps  Radisson,  the  Catholic  and  alien, 
in  this  Babylon  of  hurrying  feet?  His  friends  and 
his  neighbors  lie  here,  but  the  gravestones  give  no 
clue  of  him.  Pepys,  the  annalist  of  the  age,  with  his 
gossip  of  court  and  his  fair  wife  and  his  fine  clothes — 
thought  Radisson's  voyages  interesting  enough  as  a 
curio  but  never  seems  to  have  dreamed  that  the 
countries  Radisson  discovered  would  become  a 
dominant  factor  in  the  world's  progress  when  that 
royal  house  on  whose  breath  Pepys  hung  for  favor 
as  for  life,  lay  rotting  in  a  shameful  oblivion.  If  the 
dead  could  dream  where  they  lie  forgotten,  could 
Radisson  believe  his  own  dream — that  the  seas  of 
the  world  are  freighted  with  the  wealth  of  the  coun- 
tries he  discovered;  that  "the  country  so  pleasant, 
so  beautiful  .  .  .  so  fruitful  .  .  .  so  plen- 
tiful of  all  things^^ — as  he  described  the  Great  North- 
west when  he  first  saw  it — is  now  peopled  by  a  race 
that  all  the  nations  of  Europe  woo;  that  the  hope  of 
the  empire,  which  ignored  him  when  he  lived,  is  now 

267 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

centered  on  "that  fair  and  fruitful  and  pleasant 
land"  which  he  discovered? 

For  ten  years  Radisson  continued  to  go  to  the  bay, 
Esquire  Young  acting  as  his  attorney  to  draw  the 
allowance  of  £ioo  a  year  and  the  dividends  on  £200 
stock  for  Radisson's  wife,  Mary  Kirke.  The  min- 
utes contain  accounts  of  wine  presented  to  Mr.  Rad- 
isson, of  furs  sent  home  as  a  gift  to  Mistress  Radisson, 
of  heavy  guns  bought  for  the  forts  on  the  advice  of 
Mr.  Radisson,  of  a  fancy  pistol  delivered  to  Monsieur 
Radisson.    Then  a  change  fell. 

The  Stuarts  between  vice  and  folly  had  danced 
themselves  off  the  throne.  The  courtiers,  who  were 
Adventurers,  scattered  like  straws  before  the  wind. 
The  names  of  the  shareholders  changed.  Of  Rad- 
isson's old  friends,  only  Esquire  Young  remained. 
Besides,  Iberville  was  now  campaigning  on  the 
bay,  sweeping  the  English  as  dust  before  a  broom. 
Dividends  stopped.  The  Company  became  embar- 
rassed. By  motion  of  the  shareholders,  Radisson's 
pension  was  cut  from  ;^ioo  to  £50  a  year.  In  vain 
Esquire  Young  and  Churchill,  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough, now  governor  of  the  Company,  urged  Rad- 
isson's claims.  The  new  shareholders  did  not  know 
his  name. 

These  were  dark  days  for  the  old  pathfinder.  He 
must  have  been  compelled  to  move  from  Seething 

268 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


Lane,  for  a  petition  describes  him  as  in  the  Parish  of 
St.  James  "in  a  low  and  mean  condition"  in  great 
want  and  mental  distress  lest  his  family  should  be 
driven  to  the  poorhouse.  It  was  at  this  period  three 
papers  were  put  on  file  that  forever  place  beyond 
dispute  the  main  facts  of  his  life.  He  filed  a  suit 
in  Chancery  against  the  Company  for  a  resumption 
of  his  full  salary  pending  the  discontinuance  of  divi- 
dends. He  petitioned  Parliament  to  make  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  Company's  charter  dependent  on 
recognition  of  his  rights  as  having  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Company.  And  he  took  an  oath  regard- 
ing the  main  episodes  of  his  life  to  be  used  in  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  France.  A  fighter  he  was  to 
the  end,  though  haunted  by  that  terrible  Fear  of 
Want  which  undermined  his  courage  as  no  Phantom 
Fright  ever  shook  him  in  the  wilderness.  No  doubt 
he  felt  himself  growing  old,  nearly  seventy  now  with 
four  children  to  support  and  naught  between  them 
and  destitution  but  the  paltry  payment  of  ;i^i2  los  a 
quarter. 

Again  the  wheel  of  fortune  turned.  Radisson 
won  his  suit  against  the  Company.  His  income  of 
£ioo  was  resumed  and  arrears  of  £150  paid.  Also, 
in  the  treaty  pending  with  France,  his  evidence  was 
absolutely  requisite  to  establish  what  the  boundaries 
ought  to  be  between  Canada  and  Hudson  Bay;  so  the 

269 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Adventurers  became  suddenly  very  courteous,  very 
suave,  very  considerate  of  the  old  man  they  had 
kept  standing  outside  their  office  door;  and  the  com- 
mittee of  August  17,  1697,  bade  ^'the  secretary  take 
coach  and  jetch  Mr.  Radisson  who  may  be  very  useful 
at  this  time  as  to  affairs  between  the  French  and  the 
Company.^'  The  old  war  horse  was  once  more  in 
harness.  In  addition  to  his  salary,  gratuities  of  £10 
and  ;;^8  and  ;^2o  "for  reliable  services"  are  found 
in  the  minutes.  Regularly  his  £50  were  paid  to  him 
at  the  end  of  each  year.  Regularly,  the  ;^i2  los 
were  paid  each  quarter  to  March  29,  17 10.  When 
the  next  quarter  came  round,  this  entry  is  recorded 
in  the  minute  book: 

"Alt  A   Comitte  the  12th  July   17 10 — 
^^The  Sec  is  ordered  to  pay  Mr.  Radisson' s  widow  as 
charity  the  sum  0}  six  pounds." 

Between  the  end  of  March  and  the  beginning  of 
July,  the  old  pathfinder  had  set  forth  on  his  last 
voyage. 

But  I  think  the  saddest  record  of  all  is  the  one 
that  comes  nineteen  years  later: 

"24  Sept.  1729  Att  A  Comitte — 
"  The  Sec.  is  ordered  to  pay  Mrs.  Radisson,  widow  of  Mr. 
Peter  Esprit  Radisson,  who  was  formerly  employed  in  the 
company's  service,  the  sum  of  £10  as  charity,  she  being 
very  ill  and  in  very  great  want,  the  said  sum  to  be  paid 
her  at  such  times  as  the  Sec.  shall  think  most  convenient." 

270 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


This  was  the  widow  of  the  man  who  had  explored 
the  West  to  the  Mississippi;  who  had  explored  the 
North  to  Nelson  River;  who  had  twice  saved  New 
France  from  bankruptcy  by  the  furs  he  brought  from 
the  wilderness,  and  who  had  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  most  prosperous  chartered  company  the  world 
has  ever  known. 


Notes  on  Chapter  XIV. — It  need  scarcely  be  explained  that 
the  data  for  this  chapter  are  all  drawn  from  thousands  of  sheets 
of  scattered  records  in  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London,  Within 
the  limits  of  this  book,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  quote  all  the 
references  of  this  chapter.  Details  of  Radisson's  early  life  are 
to  be  found  in  ''Pathfinders  of  the  West."  One  of  Radisson's  peti- 
tions has  been  given  in  a  former  chapter.  Another  of  his  pe- 
titions runs  as  follows: 

"Copy  of  Peter  Esprit  Radisson's  peticon  to  ye  Parleamt. 
presented  ye  nth  of  March  1697-8. 

"To  ye  Hon'ble  the  Knights  Citizens  &  Burgesses  in  Parli- 
ament Assembled 

"The  Humble  Peticon  of  Peter  Esprit  Radisson  Humbly 
sheweth 

"That  your  petitioner  is  a  native  of  France,  who  with  a 
brother  of  his  (since  deceased)  spent  many  years  of  their  youths 
among  the  Indians  in  and  alx)ut  Hudson's  Bay,  by  reason 
whereof  they  became  absolute  masters  of  the  trade  and  lan- 
guage of  the  said  Indians  in  those  parts  of  America 

"That  about  the  year  1666  King  Charles  the  Second  sent 
yr.  Pet'r  and  his  said  brother  with  two  ships  on  purpose  to 
settle  English  colonies  &  factories  on  the  sd.  Day,  wn.  they 
effected  soe  well  by  the  said  King's  satisfaction  that  he  gave 
each  of  them  a  gold  chain  &  medell  as  a  marke  of  his  Royale 
favour  &  recommended  them  to  the  Comp'y  of  Adventurers  of 
England  Trading  unto  Hudson's  Bay  to  be  well  gratified  and 
rewarded  by  them  for  their  services  aforesaid. 

"That  since  the  death  of  yr.  Petr.  Brother,  the  sd.  compy 
have  settled  on  your  Petr:  six  actions  in  the  joint  stock  of  ye 
sd.  compy  and  one  hundred  pounds  per  annum  during  yr.  Petr: 
life 

"That  your  Petr  is  now  62  years  of  age  (being  grown  old  in 
the  compys  service)  &  hath  not  reed  any  Benefits  of  the  sd.  six 

271 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


shares  in  the  compys  stock  for  more  than  7  years  last  past  & 
hath  had  nothing  but  the  sd.  100  pds.  Per  annum  to  maintain 
himselfe  and  four  small  children  all  borne  in  England 

"That  during  the  late  Reign  a  Price  was  set  upon  your  Petr 
head  by  the  French  &  several  attempts  were  made  upon  him 
to  assassinate  him  &  that  for  none  other  reasons  but  for  quittting 
his  owne  country  &  serving  the  compy. 

"That  your  Petr:  dares  not  return  to  his  Native  country  for 
the  reasons  aforesaid :  &  seeing  all  his  subsistance  depends  on  the 
sd.  compy  &  is  shortly  to  Determine  with  the  life  of  your  Petr 
and  his  four  smalle  children  must  consequently  fall  to  be  main- 
tained by  the  Alms  of  the  Parish  altho'  the  company  hath  had 
many  thousand  pounds  effects  by  his  procurement  &  some  that 
he  conceives  he  had  himselfe  a  good  tytle  to 

"  Your  Petr  therefore  most  humbly  prays  that  this  House  will 
comiserate  the  condition  of  yr.  Petr  said  children,  and  whereas 
he  hath  now  the  said  six  actions  &  ;i^ioo  only  for  his  life,  that 
you  will  Vouchsafe  to  direct  a  provisoe  in  the  Bill  depending  to 
grant  the  sd.  annuity  to  be  paid  quarterly  &  the  dividends  of 
the  sd.  Actions  as  often  as  any  shall  become  due  to  your  Petr: 
his  Heirs  for  Ever  during   the  joint  stock  of  the  said  compy 

"And  yr.  Petr  shall  forever  pray 

"Peter  Esprit  Radisson." 

The  occasion  of  this  petition  by  Radisson  was  when  the 
Stuarts  had  lost  the  throne  and  the  Company  was  petitioning 
for  a  confirmation  of  its  royal  charter  by  an  act  of  Parliament. 
"The  many  thousand  pounds  which  he  conceived  himself  to 
have  a  title  to,"  refers  to  1684,  when  the  French  Court  com- 
pelled him  to  turn  over  all  the  ;^2 0,000  in  his  fort  at  Nelson  to 
the  English.  That  beaver  had  been  procured  in  the  trade  of 
goods  for  which  Radisson  and  Groseillers  and  young  Chouart 
and  La  F6rest  and  De  la  Chesnay  and  Dame  Sorrell  had  ad- 
vanced the  money.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Company  never 
gave  Radisson  any  stock.  They  simply  granted  him  the  right 
to  dividends  on  a  small  amount  of  stock — a  wrong  which  he  was 
powerless  to  right  as  he  dared  not  return  to  France.  It  was 
during  Iberville's  raids  that  the  Company  stopped  paying 
Radisson  dividends  or  salary,  when  he  filed  a  suit  against  them 
in  Chancery  and  won  it.  It  is  quite  true  the  Company  was  un- 
able to  pay.  him  at  this  time,  but  then  they  had  their  own  nig- 
gardly policy  to  thank  for  having  driven  him,  across  to  France 
m  the  first  place. 

When  the  Company  presented  a  bill  of  damages  against 
France  for  the  raids,  Radisson's  evidence  was  necessary  to  prove 
that  the  French  King  gave  up  all  claims  to  the  bay  when  he 
ordered  Radisson  back  to  England,  so  the  old  man  was  no 

27Z 


What  Became  of  Radisson? 


longer  kept  cooling  his  heels  in  the  outer  halls  of  the  Company's 
Council  Room.     The  bill  of  damages  was  made  up  as  follows: 
1682 — Port  Nelson  taken  with  Gov.  Bridgar 
&  Zechariah  Gillam  &  5  men  per- 
ished  £,  25,000 

1684 — damage  to  trade  at  Nelson 10,000 

1685 — Perpetnatia  taken  with  14  seamen 5,000 

loss  of  life  rjid  wages 1.255 

1686 — ^forts  captured  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay     50,000 

loss  in  trade 10,000 

1688 — loss  of  Churchill  Captain  Bond 15,000 

Young — Stimson 

cargo  to  Canada 70,000 

1692 — ^forts  lost 20,000 

£206,255 

The  French  King  had  said,  "You  may  rely  on  me  getting 
out  of  this  affair,"  and  the  bill  of  damages,  however  absurdly 
exaggerated,  was  never  paid.  The  French  raiders  proved  an 
expensive  experiment. 

Radisson 's  other  affidavit  was  made  to  prove  that  the  French 
had  quitted  all  pretensions  to  the  bay  when  he  was  ordered 
back  to  Nelson.  The  French  responded  by  denying  that  he 
had  ever  been  ordered  back  to  Nelson  and  by  calling  him  "a 
liar,"  "a  renegade,"  "a  turn  coat."  To  this,  the  English 
answered  in  formal  memorial:  "The  Mr.  Radisson  mentioned 
in  this  paper  doth  not  deserve  the  ill  names  heaped  upon  him," 
following  up  with  the  proof  that  the  French  had  sent  him  back 
to  England. 

The  real  reason  that  the  Company  were  so  remiss  to  Radisson 
in  his  latter  days  was  their  own  desperate  straits.  Besides, 
the  old  shareholders  of  the  Stuart  days  had  scattered  like  the 
wind.  Radisson  was  unknown  to  the  new  men,  so  completely 
unknown  that  in  one  committee  order  his  wife  is  spoken  of  as 
Madam  Gwodet  (Godey)  instead  of  Mary  Kirke.  Now  Madam 
Godey  was  the  damsel  whom  I>ord  Preston  offered  to  Radisson 
in  marriage  (with  a  dowry)  despite  the  fact  that  he  already 
had  a  wife — if  he  would  go  back  from  Paris  to  London.  De  la 
Potherie  tells  the  story  and  adds  that  Radisson  married  her— 
another  of  the  numerous  fictions  about  the  explorer.  This 
mass  of  notes  may  give  the  impression  that  I  am  a  protagonist 
of  Radisson.  My  answer  is  that  he  badly  needs  one,  when  such 
staunch  modern  defenders  of  his  as  Drs.  Bryce,  and  Dionne, 
and  Judge  Prudhomme  refuse  to  excuse  him  lor  his  last  deser- 
tion of  the  French  flag.  In  that  case,  Radisson  was  as  much  a 
victim  of  official  red  tape  as  Dreyfus  in  modern  days. 


PART  III 

I 700-1820 

The  Search  for  the  North- West  Passage,  the  Fall 
of  France,  the  Inlanders,  the  Coming  of  the  Colo- 
nists and  the  Great  Struggle  with  the  North- West 
Company  of  Montreal. 


CHAPTER  XV 

I 699-1 720 

THE  FIRST  ATTEMPT  OF  THE  ADVENTURERS  TO  EX- 
PLORE— HENRY  KELSEY  PENETRATES  AS  FAR  AS 
THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SASKATCHEWAN — SANFORD 
AND  ARRINGTON,  KNOWN  AS  "RED  CAP,"  FOUND 
HENLEY  HOUSE  INLAND  FROM  ALBANY — BESET 
FROM  WITHOUT,  THE  COMPANY  IS  ALSO  BESET 
FROM  WITHIN — PETITIONS  AGAINST  THE  CHAR- 
TER— INCREASE  OF  CAPITAL — RESTORATION  OF 
THE  BAY  FROM  FRANCE 

THE  Peace  of  Ryswick  in  1697,  which  decreed 
that  war  should  cease  on  Hudson  Bay, 
and  that  France  and  England  should  each 
retain  what  they  chanced  to  possess  at  the  time  of 
the  treaty— left  the  Adventurers  of  England  with 
only  one  fort,  Albany,  under  doughty  old  Governor 
Knight,  and  one  outpost.  New  Severn,  which  refugees 
driven  to  the  woods  had  built  out  of  necessity. 

Back  in  '85  when  Robert  Sanford  had  been  or- 
dered to  explore  inland,  he  had  reported  such  voy- 
ages impracticable.  The  only  way  to  obtain  inland 
trade,  he  declared,  was  to  give  presents  to  the  Indian 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

chiefs  and  attract  the  tribes  down  to  the  bay.  Now 
that  the  French  had  swept  the  English  from  the  bay, 
Sanford  was  driven  to  the  very  thing  he  had  said 
could  not  be  done — penetrating  inland  to  intercept 
the  Indian  fleets  of  canoes  before  they  came  down  to 
the  French.  With  one  Arrington,  known  as  Red 
Cap  on  the  bay,  and  a  man,  John  Vincent,  Sanford 
year  after  year  went  upstream  from  Albany  through 
Keewatin  toward  what  is  now  Manitoba.  By  1700, 
Henley  House  had  been  built  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  inland  from  Albany.  The  French  war  was 
proving  a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  had  awakened  the 
sleeping  English  gentlemen  of  the  bay  and  was 
scattering  them  far  and  wide.  The  very  year  the 
French  came  overland,  1686,  Captain  Abraham  had 
sailed  north  from  Nelson  to  Churchill — "a  faire  wide 
river,"  he  describes  it,  naming  it  after  the  great  ISIarl- 
borough;  and  now  with  only  Albany  as  the  radiat- 
ing point,  commanded  by  old  Governor  Knight, 
sloops  under  the  apprentice  boy,  young  Henry  Kel- 
sey,  under  Mike  Grimmington  and  Smithsend,  sailed 
across  to  the  east  side  of  the  bay,  known  as  East 
Main  (now  known  as  Ungava  and  Labrador)  and 
yearly  traded  so  successfully  with  the  wandering 
Eskimo  and  Montagnais  there  that  in  spite  of  the 
French  holding  the  bay,  cargoes  of  30,000  and  40,000 
beaver  pelts  were  sent  home  to  England. 

278 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

But  the  honors  of  exploration  at  this  period  belong 
to  the  ragamuffin,  apprentice  lad,  Henry  Kelsey. 
He  had  come  straight  to  Nelson  before  the  French 
occupation  from  the  harum-scarum  life  of  a  London 
street  arab.  At  the  fur  posts,  discipline  was  abso- 
lutely strict.  Only  the  governor  and  chief  trader 
were  allowed  to  converse  with  the  Indians.  No  man 
could  leave  the  fort  to  hunt  without  special  parole. 
Every  subordinate  was  sworn  to  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence to  the  officer  above  him.  Servants  were  not 
supposed  to  speak  unless  spoken  to.  Written  rules 
and  regulations  were  stuck  round  the  fort  walls  thick 
as  advertisements  put  up  by  a  modem  bill  poster, 
and  the  slightest  infraction  of  these  martinet  rules 
was  visited  by  guardroom  duty,  or  a  sound  drub- 
bing at  the  hands  of  the  chief  factor,  or  public  court- 
martial  followed  by  the  lash.  It  was  all  a  part  of  the 
cocked  hat  and  red  coat  and  gold  lace  and  silk  ruffles 
with  which  these  little  kings  of  the  wilderness  sought 
to  invest  themselves  with  the  pomp  of  authority.  It 
is  to  the  everlasting  credit  of  the  Company's  governors 
that  a  .system  of  such  absolute  despotism  was  seldom 
abused.  Perhaps,  too,  the  loneliness  of  the  life — a 
handful  of  whites  cooped  up  amid  all  the  perils  of 
savagery — made  each  man  realize  the  responsibility 
of  being  his  brother's  keeper. 

Henry  Kelsey,  the  apprentice  boy,  fresh  from  the 
279 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

streets  of  London,  promptly  ran  amuck  of  the  strict 
rules  at  Nelson.  He  went  in  and  out  of  the  fort 
without  leave,  and  when  gates  were  locked,  he 
climbed  the  walls.  In  spite  of  rules  to  the  contrary, 
he  talked  with  the  Indians  and  hunted  with  them, 
and  when  Captain  Geyer  switched  him  soundly  for 
disobedience,  he  broke  bars,  jumped  the  walls,  and 
ran  away  with  a  party  of  Assiniboines.  About  this 
time,  came  the  French  to  the  bay.  The  Company 
was  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  induce  servants 
to  go  inland  for  trade  when  an  Indian  runner 
brought  a  message  on  birch  bark  from  Kelsey.  He 
had  been  up  Hayes  River  with  the  Indians  and  now 
offered  to  conduct  an  exploration  on  condition  of 
pardon.  Geyer  not  only  pardoned  the  young  rene- 
gade but  welcomed  him  back  to  the  fort  bag  and 
baggage,  Indian  wife  and  all  the  trumpery  of  an 
Indian  family.  The  great  Company  issued  Kelsey 
a  formal  commission  for  discovery,  and  the  next  year 
on  July  15,  1 69 1,  as  the  Assiniboines  departed  from 
Deering's  Point  where  they  camped  to  trade  at  Nel- 
son, Kelsey  launched  out  in  a  canoe  with  them. 

Radisson  and  young  Chouart  had  been  up  this 
river  some  distance;  but  as  far  as  known,  Kelsey 
was  the  first  white  man  to  follow  Hayes  River  west- 
ward as  far  as  the  prairies.  The  weather  was  ex- 
ceedingly dry,  game  scarce,  grass  high  and  brittle, 

280 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

the  tracks  hard  to  follow  whether  of  man  or  beast. 
Within  a  week,  the  Indians  had  gone  up  one  hundred 
and  seventy  miles  toward  what  are  now  known  as 
Manitoba  and  Saskatchewan,  but  only  two  moose 
and  one  partridge  had  been  killed,  and  provisions 
were  exhausted.  Leaving  the  Indians,  Kelsey  pushed 
forward  across  country  following  the  trail  of  an  en- 
campment to  the  fore.  At  the  end  of  a  thirty  mile 
tramp  through  brushwood  of  poplars  and  scrub 
birch,  he  came  to  three  leather  tepees.  No  one  was 
in  them.  Men  and  women  were  afield  hunting. 
Ravenous  with  hunger,  Kelsey  ransacked  provision 
bags.  He  found  nothing  but  dried  grass  and  was 
fain  to  stay  his  hunger  with  berries.  At  night  the 
hunters  came  in  with  ten  swans  and  a  moose.  Here, 
Kelsey  remained  with  them  hunting  till  his  party 
came  up,  when  all  advanced  together  another  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  to  the  Assiniboine  camp- 
ing place.  There  were  only  twenty-six  tents  of 
Assiniboines.  In  a  fray,  the  main  party  of  Assini- 
boine hunters  had  slain  three  Cree  women,  and  had 
now  fled  south,  away  from  Cree  territory.  By  the 
middle  of  August,  Kelsey  and  his  hunters  were  on 
the  buffalo  plains.  All  day,  the  men  hunted.  At 
night,  the  women  went  out  to  bring  in  and  dress  the 
meat.  Once,  exhausted,  Kelsey  fell  sound  asleep 
on  the  trail.    When  he  awakened,  there  was  not  even 

28z 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  dust  of  the  hunt  to  guide  him  back  to  camp. 
From  horizon  to  horizon  was  not  a  living  soul;  only 
the  billowing  prairie,  grass  neck  high,  with  the  lonely 
call  of  birds  circling  overhead.  By  following  the 
crumpled  grass  and  watching  the  sky  for  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  camp  fires  at  night,  Kelsey  found  his  way 
back  to  the  Assiniboines.  Another  time,  camp  fire 
had  been  made  of  dry  moss.  Kelsey  was  awakened 
to  find  the  grass  round  him  on  fire  and  the  stock  of 
his  musket  blazing.  With  his  jackknife  he  made  a 
rude  gunstock  for  the  rest  of  the  trip.  Hunting  with 
an  Indian  one  day,  the  two  came  unexpectedly  on  a 
couple  of  grizzly  bears.  The  surprise  was  mutual. 
The  bears  knew  no  fear  of  firearms  and  were  dis- 
posed to  parley,  but  the  hunters  didn't  wait.  The 
Indian  dashed  for  a  tree;  Kelsey  for  hiding  in  a 
bunch  of  willows,  firing  as  he  ran.  The  bears  mis- 
took the  direction  of  the  shot  and  had  pursued  the 
Indian.  Kelsey's  charge  had  wounded  one  bear, 
and  with  a  second  shot,  he  now  disabled  the  other, 
firing  full  in  its  face.  The  double  victory  over  the 
beast  of  prey  most  feared  by  the  Indians  gained  him 
the  name  of  Little  Giant — Miss-to p-ashish. 

From  Kelsey's  journal,  it  is  impossible  to  follow 
the  exact  course  of  his  wanderings.  Enemies,  who 
tried  to  prove  that  the  English  Company  deserved  no 
credit  for  exploration,  declared  that  he  did  not  go 

282 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

farther  than  five  hundred  miles  from  the  bay,  seventy- 
one  by  canoe,  three  hundred  through  woods  over- 
land, forty-six  across  a  plain,  then  eighty-one  more 
to  the  buffalo  country.  From  his  own  journal,  the 
distance  totals  up  six  hundred  miles;  but  he  does  not 
mention  any  large  river  except  the  Hayes,  or  large 
lake;  so  that  after  striking  westward  he  must  have 
been  north  of  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the  Saskatchewan, 
but  not  so  far  north  and  west  as  Athabasca.  This 
would  place  his  wanderings  in  the  modern  province 
of  Saskatchewan. 

It  was  the  24th  of  August  before  he  joined  Washa, 
chief  of  the  Assiniboines,  and  took  up  lodgings  amid 
the  eighty  tents  of  the  tribe.  Solemnly,  the  peace 
pipe  was  smoked  and,  on  the  12th  of  September,  Kel- 
sey  presented  the  Assiniboine  chief  with  the  present 
of  a  lace  coat,  a  cap,  a  sash,  guns,  knives,  powder  and 
shot,  telling  the  Indians  these  were  tokens  of  what 
the  white  men  would  do  if  the  Indians  proved  good 
hunters;  but  on  no  account  must  the  tribes  war  on 
one  another,  or  the  white  man  would  give  the  enemy 
guns,  which  would  exterminate  all  fighters.  Washa 
promised  to  bring  his  hunt  down  to  the  bay,  which 
tribal  wars  prevented  for  some  years.  Hudson's  Bay 
traders,  who  followed  up  Kelsey's  exploration — 
aimed  for  the  region  now  known  as  Cumberland 
House,  variously  called   Poskoyac  and   Basquia — 

283 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

westward  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  so  there  is  little  doubt  it 
was  in  this  land  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  boy  first 
hunted  and  camped.  With  Kelsey,  the  result  was 
instant  promotion.  His  wife  went  home  to  England, 
where  she  was  regularly  paid  his  salary,  and  he  rose 
to  a  position  second  only  to  the  venerable  old  Gov- 
ernor Knight,  commander  of  the  entire  bay. 

Meanwhile,  the  French  were  having  their  own 
troubles  in  the  captured  forts.  War  had  broken  out 
again,  and  was  going  against  France  in  Marlbor- 
ough's victories.  The  French  might  hold  the  bay, 
but  not  a  pound  of  provisions  could  be  sent  across 
seas  on  account  of  English  privateers.  The  French 
garrisons  of  Hudson  Bay  were  starving.  Indians, 
who  brought  down  pelts  from  the  Pays  d'En  Haut 
or  upcountry — could  obtain  no  goods  in  barter  and 
having  grown  dependent  on  the  whiteman's  fire- 
arms, were  in  turn  reduced  to  straits. 

Lagrange,  a  gay  court  adventurer,  had  come  out 
in  1704  to  Nelson,  which  the  French  called  Bourbon, 
with  a  troop  of  pleasure-seeking  men  and  wome:n 
for  a  year's  hunting.  For  one  year,  the  drab  mo- 
notony of  post  life  was  enlivened  by  a  miniature 
Paris.  Wines  from  the  royal  cellars  flowed  like 
water.  The  reckless  songs  of  court  gallants  rang 
among  the  rafters,  and  the  slippered  feet  of  more 
reckless  court  beauties  tripped  the  light  dance  over 

284 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

the  rough-timbered  floors  of  the  fur  post.  It  was  a 
wild  age,  and  a  wild  court  from  which  they  came  to 
this  wilderness — reckless  women  and  reckless  men, 
whose  God  was  Pleasure.  Who  knows  what  court 
intrigue  was  being  hidden  and  acted  out  at  Port 
Nelson?  Poor  butterflies,  that  had  scorched  their 
wings  and  lost  their  youth,  came  here  to  masquerade! 
Soldiers  of  fortune,  who  had  gambled  their  patrimony 
in  the  royal  court  and  stirred  up  scandal,  rusticating 
in  a  little  log  fort  in  the  wilderness!  The  theme  is 
more  romantic  than  the  novelist  could  conceive. 

But  war  broke  out,  and  Lagrange's  gay  troop 
scattered  like  leaves  before  the  wind.  Iberville 
was  dead  in  Havana.  LaFdrest  of  the  Quebec  Fur 
Company  had  gone  back  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Jeremie,  the  interpreter,  had  gone  to  France  on 
leave,  in  1707,  and  now  in  1708,  when  the  French 
garrisons  were  starving  and  the  high  seas  scoured  by 
privateers — Jeremie  came  back  as  governor,  under 
the  king.  He  at  once  dispatched  men  to  hunt. 
Nine  bushrangers  had  camped  one  night  near  a  tent 
of  Crees.  The  Indians  were  hungry,  sullen,  resent- 
ful to  the  whitcmcn  who  failed  to  trade  guns  and 
powder  as  the  English  had  traded.  At  the  fort, 
they  had  been  turned  away  with  their  furs  on  their 
hands.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  the  French  trader 
that  he  frequently  descends  to  the  level  of  the  Indian. 

285 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Jeremie's  nine  men  were,  perhaps,  slightly  intoxicated 
after  their  supper  of  fresh  game  and  strong  brandy. 
Two  Indian  women  came  to  the  camp  and  invited 
two  Frenchmen  to  the  Indian  tents.  The  fellows 
tumbled  into  the  trap  like  the  proverbial  country 
jack  with  the  thimblerigger.  No  sooner  had  they 
reached  the  Indian  tepees  than  they  were  brained. 
Seizing  the  pistols  and  knives  of  the  dead  men,  the 
Indians  crept  through  the  thicket  to  the  fire  of  the 
bush-rovers.  With  unearthly  yells  they  fell  on  the 
remaining  seven  and  cut  them  to  pieces.  One 
wounded  man  alone  escaped  by  feigning  the  rigor  of 
death,  while  they  stripped  him  naked,  and  creeping 
off  into  hiding  of  the  bushes  while  the  savages  de- 
voured the  dead.  Waiting  till  they  had  gone,  the 
wounded  man  crawled  painfully  back  by  night — a 
distance  of  thirty  miles — to  Jeremie,  at  an  outpost. 
Jeremie  quickly  withdrew  the  garrison  from  the  out- 
post, retreated  within  the  double  palisades  of  Nelson 
(Bourbon)  shot  all  bolts,  unplugged  his  cannon  and 
awaited  siege;  but  Indians  do  not  attack  in  the  open. 
Jeremie  held  the  fort  till  events  in  Europe  relieved 
him  of  his  charge. 

In  spite  of  French  victories,  as  long  as  Mike  Grim- 
mington  and  Nick  Smithsend  were  bringing  home 
cargoes  of  thirty  thousand  beaver  a  year,  the  English 

286 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

Adventurers  prospered.  In  fact,  within  twenty 
years  of  their  charter's  grant,  they  had  prospered  so 
exceedingly  that  they  no  longer  had  the  face  to 
declare  such  enormous  dividends,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 3,  1690,  it  was  unanimously  decided  to  treble 
their  original  stock  from  ;^io,5oo  to  ;i{^3i,5oo.  The 
reasons  given  for  this  action  were:  that  there  were 
furs  of  more  value  than  the  original  capital  of  the 
Company  now  in  the  Company's  warehouses;  that 
the  year's  cargo  was  of  more  value  than  the  original 
capital  of  the  Company;  that  the  returns  in  beaver 
from  Nelson  and  Severn  alone  this  year  exceeded 
£20,000;  that  the  forts  and  armaments  were  of  great 
value,  and  that  the  Company  had  reasons  to  expect 
£100,000  reparation  from  the  French. 

Immediately  after  the  decision,  a  dividend  of  25 
per  cent,  was  declared  on  the  trebled  stock. 

Such  prosperity  excited  envy.  The  fur  buyers  and 
pelt  workers  and  skin  merchants  of  London  were  up 
in  arms.  People  began  to  question  whether  a  royal 
house,  which  had  l)een  deposed  from  the  English 
throne,  had  any  right  to  deed  away  in  perpetuity 
public  domain  of  such  vast  Wealth  to  court  favorites. 
Besides,  court  favorites  had  scattered  with  the  ruined 
Stuart  House.  Newcomers  were  the  holders  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  stock.  What  right  had 
these  newcomers  to  the  privileges  of  such  monopoly? 

287 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Especially,  what  was  the  meaning  of  such  dividends, 
when  the  Company  regularly  borrowed  all  the  money 
needed  for  working  operations?  As  late  as  1685, 
the  Company  had  borrowed  ;^2,ooo  at  6  per  cert,  from 
its  own  shareholders,  and  after  French  disasters 
began  to  injure  its  credit  in  the  London  market,  it 
regularly  sent  agents  to  borrow  money  in  Amsterdam. 

The  Company  foresaw  that  the  downfall  of  the 
Stuarts  might  afifect  its  monopoly  and  in  1697  had 
applied  for  the  confirmation  of  its  charter  by  Parlia- 
ment. Against  this  plea,  London  fur  buyers  filed  a 
counter  petition:  (i)  It  was  too  arbitrary  a  charter 
to  be  granted  to  private  individuals.  (2)  It  was  of 
no  advantage  to  the  public  but  a  mere  stockjobbing 
concern,  £100  worth  of  stock  selling  as  high  as  £300, 
£30  as  high  as  £200.  (3)  Beaver  purchased  in  Hud- 
son Bay  for  6d  sold  in  London  for  6s.  (4)  Monopoly 
drove  the  Indians  to  trade  with  the  French.  (5)  The 
charter  covered  too  much  territory. 

To  which  the  Company  made  answer  that  not 
£1,000  of  stock  had  changed  hands  in  the  last  year, 
which  was  doubtless  true;  for  '97  was  the  year  of  the 
great  defeat.  The  climate  would  always  prevent  set- 
tlement in  Hudson  Bay,  and  most  important  of  all — 
England  would  have  lost  all  that  region  but  for  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.  In  its  mood  at  the  time, 
that  was  a  telling  argument  with  the  English -Parlia- 

288 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

ment.  Negotiations  were  in  progress  with  France 
for  a  permanent  treaty  of  peace.  If  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  were  dissolved,  to  whom  would  all  the 
region  revert  but  to  those  already  in  possession — 
the  French?  And  if  the  impending  war  broke  out, 
who  would  defend  the  bay  from  the  French  but  the 
Company? 

By  act  of  Parliament,  the  charter  of  the  English 
Adventurers  was  confirmed  for  a  period  of  seven 
years.  And  more — when  an  act  was  passed  in  1708 
to  encourage  trade  to  America,  a  proviso  was  inserted 
that  the  territory  of  the  Company  should  not  be 
included  in  the  freedom  of  trade. 

From  the  time  France  was  beaten  in  the  continental 
wars,  the  English  Adventurers  never  ceased  to  press 
their  claims  against  France  for  the  restoration  of  all 
posts  on  Hudson  Bay  and  the  payment  of  damages 
varying  in  amount  from  ;)^2oo,ooo  to  ;i^ioo,504. 
Memorials  were  presented  to  King  William,  me- 
morials to  Queen  Anne.  Sir  Stephen  Evance,  the 
goldsmith,  who  had  become  a  heavy  shareholder 
through  taking  stock  in  payment  for  his  ships  char- 
tered to  the  bay — had  succeeded  Marlborough  as 
governor  in  1692,  but  the  great  general  was  still  a 
friend  at  Court,  and  when  Evance  retired  in  1696, 
Sir  William  Trumbull,  Secretary  of  State,  became 
governor.    Old  Governor  Knight  came  from  Albany 

289 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

on  the  bay,  in  1700,  to  go  to  France  with  Sir  Bibye 
Lake  and  Marlborough  to  press  the  claims  of  the 
English  fur  traders  against  France.  For  the  double 
claims  of  restoration  and  damages,  France  offered 
to  trade  all  the  posts  on  the  south  shore  for  all  the 
posts  on  the  west  shore.  The  offer  was  but  a  parley 
for  better  terms.  Both  English  and  French  fur 
traders  knew  that  the  best  furs  came  from  the  west 
posts.  Negotiations  dragged  on  to  17 10.  It  was 
subterraneously  conveyed  to  the  English  fur  traders 
that  France  would  yield  on  one  point,  but  not  on 
both:  they  could  have  back  the  bay  but  not  the  in- 
demnity; or  the  indemnity  but  not  the  bay.  The 
English  fur  traders  subterraneously  conveyed  to  the 
commissioners  in  Holland,  that  they  would  accept  the 
restoration  of  the  bay  and  write  off  the  indemnity 
bill  of  ;^ioo,ooo  as  bad  debts.  Such  was  the  Peace 
of  Utrecht,  17 13,  as  it  affected  the  fate  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company. 

One  point  was  left  unsettled  by  the  treaty.  Where 
was  the  boundar}'  between  bushrangers  of  New 
France  working  north  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
the  voyageurs  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  work- 
ing south  from  James  Bay?  A  dozen  different 
propositions  were  made,  but  none  accepted.  The 
dispute  came  as  a  heritage  to  modern  days  when 
Quebec  and  Ontario  wrangled  out  their  boundaries, 

290 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

and  Ontario  and  Manitoba  competed  for  Keewatin, 
and  finally  the  new  province  of  Saskatchewan 
disputed  Manitoba  for  a  slice  giving  access  to  a 
seaport  on  Hudson  Bay. 

The  settlement  came  just  in  time  to  save  the  Com- 
pany from  bankruptcy.  The  Adventurers  had  no 
money  to  pay  their  captains.  Grimmington  and 
Smithsend  accepted  pay  of  £200  apiece  in  bonds. 
Yet  this  same  Company  so  often  accused  of  avarice 
and  tyranny  to  servants  borrowed  money  to  pay  ;;^2o 
each  to  the  seamen  surviving  the  terrible  disasters 
of  '97,  and  donated  a  special  gratuity  to  Captain 
Bailey  for  bringing  the  books  of  Nelson  safely  home. 
Sir  Stephen  Evance  became  governor  again  in  1700 
and  transferred  £600  of  his  own  stock  to  Captain 
Knight  as  wages  for  holding  Albany.  Captains 
would  now  accept  engagements  only  on  condition  of 
being  ransomed  if  captured,  at  the  Company's  ex- 
pense; and  no  ship  would  leave  port  without  a 
convoy  of  frigates. 

June  2,  1702,  the  secretary  is  ordered  to  pay  the 
cost  of  making  a  scarlet  coat  with  lace,  for  Nepa- 
nah-tay,  the  Indian  chief,  come  home  with  Captain 
Grimmington. 

November  5,  1703,  Captain  Knight  is  ordered  to 
take  care  of  the  little  Indian  girl  brought  home  by 
Captain  Grimmington.    It  is  ordered  at  the  same 

291 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


time  that  tradesmen's  bills  shall  be  paid  ''as  long  as 
the  money  lasts,"  but  that  seamen's  wages  be  paid 
up  to  date.  Orders  are  also  issued  for  the  gunsmith 
"to  stamp  no  barrell  nor  locks  with  ye  compy's 
marker  that  are  not  in  every  way  good  and  perfect." 
Henry  Kelsey  is  now  employed  at  £ioo  per  annum 
either  "to  go  up  country" — meaning  inland — or 
across  to  East  Main  (Labrador).  When  Mike 
Grimmington  is  not  on  the  bay  in  his  frigate,  he  is 
sent  to  Russia  with  beaver,  bringing  back  cargoes 
of  leather.  Fullerton  takes  Knight's  place  at  Albany, 
with  a  scale  of  wages  running  from  £ioto£i6a  year 
for  apprentices  with  a  gratuity  of  20s  a  month  if 
they  prove  worthy;  and  to  Fullerton  and  the  cap- 
tains of  the  vessels  are  sent  twenty-three  hogsheads 
of  liquor  to  keep  up  their  courage  against  the  French 
in  1 7 10.  Outward  bound  the  same  year,  Mike  Grim- 
mington, the  veteran  of  a  hundred  raids,  falls  des- 
perately ill.  Like  the  Vikings  of  the  North,  he  will 
not  turn  back.  If  vanquished,  he  will  be  vanquished 
with  face  to  foe.  So  he  meets  his  Last  Foe  at  sea, 
and  is  vanquished  of  Death  on  June  15— within  a 
few  weeks  of  "Radisson's  death — and  is  buried  at 
Harwich.  Learning  the  news  by  coureur,  the  Govern- 
ing Committee  promptly  vote  his  widow,  Anne,  a  gift 
of  j^ioo  and  appoints  the  son,  Mike  Grimmington, 
Jr.,  an  apprentice.    Sir  Bibye  Lake,  who  had  helped 

292 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

to  secure  the  favorable  terms  of  the  peace  treaty,  is 
voted  governor  in  17 13. 

In  no  year  at  this  period  did  the  sales  of  furs  exceed 
;£ioo,ooo  but  big  cargoes  are  beginning  to  come  in 
again,  and  the  Company  is  able  to  declare  a  dividend 
of  10  per  cent,  in  17 18.  Before  the  French  war,  the 
forts  had  been  nothing  but  a  cluster  of  cabins  pali- 
saded. Now  the  Adventurers  determine  to  strengthen 
their  posts.  For  the  time,  Rupert  and  Severn  are 
abandoned,  but  stone  bastions  are  built  in  17 18  at 
Moose  and  Albany  and  Nelson  (now  known  as  York) 
and  Churchill.  Inland  from  Albany,  Henley  House 
is  garrisoned  against  the  French  overlanders.  At 
East  Main  on  Slude  River  a  fort  is  knocked  together 
of  driftwood  and  bowlder  and  lime. 

In  spite  of  increased  wages  and  peace,  the  Adven- 
turers have  great  difficulty  procuring  servants.  The 
war  has  made  known  the  real  perils  of  the  service. 
Mr.  Ramsay  is  employed  in  1707  and  Captain  John 
Merry  in  171 2  to  go  to  the  Orkneys  for  servants — 
fourteen  able-bodied  seamen  in  the  former  year,  forty 
in  the  latter,  and  for  the  first  time  there  come  into 
the  history  of  the  Northwest  the  names  of  those 
Orkney  families,  whose  lives  are  really  the  record 
of  the  great  domain  to  which  they  gave  their  strength 
— the  Belchers  and  Gunns,  and  the  Carruthers,  and 
the  Bannisters,  and  the  Isbisters  and  the  Baileys, 

293 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

generation  after  generation,  and  the  Mackenzies, 
and  the  Clarkes  and  the  Gwynnes's.  Some  came  as 
clerks,  some  as  gunners,  some  as  bush-lopers.  The 
lowest  wage  was  12s  a  month  with  a  gratuity  of  £2 
on  signing  the  contract.  But  this  did  not  suffice  to 
bring  recruits  fast  enough  for  the  expanding  work 
of  the  Company,  and  there  comes  jauntily  on  the 
scene,  in  171 1,  Mr.  Andrew  Vallentine  of  matrimonial 
fame  with  secret  contracts  to  supply  the  Company 
with  apprentices  if  the  Company  will  supply  the 
dowries  for  the  brides  of  the  said  apprentices.  As 
told  in  a  former  chapter,  "a//  proposals  to  he  locked 
up  in  ye  Iron  Chest  in  a  Booke  Aparte.^'  Dr.  Sach- 
everell,  the  famous  divine,  performed  the  marriage 
ceremonies;  and  from  an  item  surreptitiously  smug- 
gled into  the  general  minutes  of  the  Company's 
records  instead  of  "the  Booke  Aparte,"  I  judge  that 
the  marriage  portions  were  on  a  scale  averaging  some 
£^0  and  ;^ioo  each.  A  Miss  Evance  is  named  as  one 
of  the  brides,  so  that  the  affair  was  no  common  list- 
ing of  women  for  the  marriage  shambles  such  as 
Virginia  and  Quebec  witnessed,  but  a  contract  in 
which  even  a  relative  of  the  Company's  governor  was 
not  ashamed  to  enter.  Business  flourished — as  told 
elsewhere.  The  marriage  ofhce  had  to  have  addi- 
tional apartments  in  "the  Buttery"  until  about 
1735,  when  lawsuits  and  the  death  of  Mr.  Vallentine 

294 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 

caused  a  summary  shutting  down  of  the  enterprise. 
It  had  accomplished  its  aim — brought  recruits  to 
the  Company. 

By  1 717  Kelsey,  the  aforetime  apprentice,  had 
become  governor  of  Churchill  at  ;^2oo  a  year.  One 
William  Stewart  and  another  apprentice,  Richard 
Norton,  were  sent  inland  from  Churchill  to  explore 
and  make  peace  between  the  tribes.  How  far  north 
they  proceeded  is  not  known — not  farther  than  Ches- 
terfield Inlet,  where  the  water  ran  with  a  tide  like 
the  sea,  and  the  Indians  by  signs  told  legends  of  vast 
mines.  Kelsey  had  heard  similar  tales  of  mines  over 
on  the  Labrador  coast.  Thomas  Macklish,  who  had 
gone  up  Nelson  River  beyond  Ben  Gillam's  Island, 
heard  similar  tales.  Each  of  these  explorers,  the 
Company  rewarded  with  gratuities  ranging  from  £20 
to  £100.  There  were  legends,  too,  at  Moose  and 
Rupert  of  great  silver  mines  toward  Temiscamingue 
— the  field  of  the  modem  cobalt  beds. 

The  Company  determined  to  inaugurate  a  policy 
of  search  for  mineral  wealth  and  exploration  for  a 
passage  to  the  South  Sea.  Old  Captain  Knight — 
now  in  his  eighties — had  gone  back  to  the  bay  to  re- 
ceive the  posts  from  the  French  under  Jeremie.  He 
had  returned  to  England  and  was,  in  17 18,  ordered 
on  a  voyage  of  exploration.  He  demanded  stiff 
terms  for  the  arduous  task.    His  salary  was  to  be 

295 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

;^400  per  annum.  He  was  to  have  one-tenth  profit 
of  all  minerals  discovered  and  all  new  trade  estab- 
lished, which  was  not  in  furs,  such  as  whale  hunting 
and  fishing.  He  was  to  be  allowed  to  accept  such 
presents  from  the  evacuating  French  as  he  saw  fit, 
and  was  not  to  be  compelled  to  winter  on  the  bay. 
The  contract  was  for  four  years  with  the  proviso  in 
case  of  Knight's  death,  Henry  Kelsey  was  to  be 
governor  of  all  the  bay.  With  a  Greenland  schooner 
and  a  yawl  for  inland  waters.  Knight  set  sail  on  the 
frigates  bound  from  England,  hopes  high  as  gold 
miners  stampeding  to  a  new  field. 


Notes  on  Chapter  XV . — The  Sandford  first  sent  inland  from 
Albany  was  a  relative  of  Captain  Gillam  and  was  at  one  time 
put  on  the  lists  for  dismissal  owing  to  Ben  Gillam's  poaching. 

Robson  casts  doubt  on  Kelsey  having  gone  inland  from 
Nelson,  but  Robson  was  writing  in  a  mood  of  spite  toward  his 
former  employers.  The  reasons  given  for  his  doubt  are  two- 
fold: (i)  Kelsey  could  not  have  gone  five  hundred  miles  in 
sixty  days;  (2)  m  the  dry  season  of  July,  Kelsey  could  not  have 
followed  any  Indian  trail.  Both  objections  are  absurd.  Forty 
miles  a  day  is  not  a  high  average  for  a  good  woodsman  or  canoe- 
man.  As  to  following  a  trail  in  July,  the  very  fact  that  the 
grass  was  so  brittle,  m"ade  it  easy  to  follow  recent  tracks.  Night 
camp  fire  and  the  general  direction  of  the  land  would  be  guides 
enough  for  a  good  pathfinder,  let  alone  the  crumpled  grasses 
left  behind  a  horde  of  wandering  Indians. 

Kelsey 's  Journal  is  to  be  found  in  the  Parliamentary  Report 
of  1749.  At  the  time,  it  was  handed  over  to  Parliament,  it  was 
taken  from  Hudson's  Bay  House,  and  is  no  longer  in  the  records 
of  the  Company.  The  exact  itinerary  of  the  journey,  I  do  not 
attempt  to  give.  Each  reader,  especially  in  the  West,  can 
guess  at  it  for  himself. 

It  is  about  this  time  that  Port  Nelson  became  known  as 
York,  in  honor  of  the  Duke  of  York,  former  governor.     Hereto- 

296 


First  Attempt  of  the  Adventurers  to  Explore 


fore,   dispatches    were  headed   "Nelson."     Now,   they  are  ad- 
dressed to  "York." 

The  account  of  French  occupation  is  to  be  found  in  French 
Marine  Archives  and  in  the  Relation  of  Jeremie,  Bernard's  Voy- 
ages. 

Governor  Knight  paid  £2'J^  to  the  French  for  provisions  left 
at  Nelson.  It  was  the  cargo  of  furs  he  sent  home  in  17 14  that 
enabled  the  Company  to  pay  its  long-standing  debts  and  declare 
a  dividend  by  17 18. 

As  York  may  soon  be  Manitoba's  seaport,  it  is  worth  noting 
that  in  1715  Captain  Da  vies  spent  the  entire  summer  beating 
about  and  lailea  to  enter  Hayes  River  for  the  ice.  For  this 
failure,  he  was  severely  reprimanded  by  the  Company. 

In  1695  the  lease  was  signed  for  thirty-five  years  for  the 
premises  on  Fenchurch  Street,  occupied  till  the  Company  moved 
to  present  quarters  in  Lime  Street. 

The  first  map  of  the  bay  drawn  for  the  Company  was  executed 
in  1684,  by  John  Thornton,  for  which  he  was  paid  £^. 

It  was  in  1686  that  the  famous  Jan  Pdr^,  the  spy,  was  dis- 
charged from  prison  and  escaped  to  France. 

All  trace  of  young  Chouart  is  lost  after  1689,  when  he  came  to 
London  from  Nelson. 


297 


CHAPTER  XVI 
1719-1740 

OLD  CAPTAIN  KNIGHT  BESET  BY  GOLD  FEVER,  HEARS 
THE  CALL  OF  THE  NORTH — THE  STRAITS  AND 
BAY — THE  FIRST  HARVEST  OF  THE  SEA  AT  DEAD 
man's  island — CASTAWAYS  FOR  THREE  YEARS 
— THE  COMPANY  BESET  BY  GOLD  FEVER  IN- 
CREASES ITS  STOCK — PAYS  TEN  PER  CENT.  ON 
TWICE-TREBLED  CAPITAL  —  COMING  OF  SPIES 
AGAIN 

FROM  the  time  of  the  first  voyage  up  to  Church- 
ill River,  in  1686,  the  fur  traders  had  noticed 
tribes  of  Indians  from  the  far  North,  who 
wore  ornaments  of  almost  pure  copper.  Chunks  of 
metal,  that  melted  down  to  lead  with  a  percentage 
of  silver,  were  brought  down  to  the  fur  post  at  Slude 
River  in  Labrador  on  the  east  side  of  the  bay.  Vague 
tales  were  told  by  the  wandering  Eskimo  and  Chip- 
pewyans  at  Churchill  of  a  vast  copper  mine  some- 
where on  that  river  now  knowm  as  Coppermine,  and 
of  a  metal  for  which  the  Indians  had  no  name  but 
which  white  man's  avidity  quickly  recognized  as  gold 
dust  coming  from  the  far  northern  realms  of  iceberg 

298 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

and  frost  known  as  Baffin's  Land.  How  true  some 
of  these  legends  were  has  been  proved  by  the  great 
cobalt  mines  of  modem  Ontario  and  placers  of 
Alaska.  But  where  lies  the  hidden  treasure  trove 
from  which  the  Indians  brought  down  copper  to 
Churchill,  silver  to  Slude  River,  and  gold  dust — if 
gold  it  was — from  the  snowy  realm  of  the  Eskimo  in 
the  North?  Those  treasure  stores  have  not  yet  been 
uncovered,  though  science  has  declared  that  vast 
deposits  of  copper  may  be  found  west  of  Chesterfield 
Inlet,  and  placers  may  at  any  time  be  uncovered  in 
Baffin's  Land. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  charter  had  been  granted  in  the 
first  place  for  "  the  discovery  of  a  passage  to  the  South 
Sea."  At  this  time,  there  was  great  agitation  in 
Russia  for  the  discovery  of  the  Straits  of  Anian,  that 
were  supposed  to  lead  through  America  from  Asia  to 
Europe.  Vitus  Bering's  expedition  to  find  these 
straits  resulted  in  Russia's  discovery  of  Alaska. 

The  English  Adventurers  now  kept  agents  in 
Russia.  They  were  aware  of  the  projects  in  the  air 
at  the  Russian  Court.  Why  not  combine  the  search 
for  the  passage  to  the  South  Sea  with  the  search  for 
the  hidden  mines  of  Indian  legends?  Besides — the 
Company  had  another  project  in  the  air.  Richard 
Norton,  the  apprentice  boy,  had  gone  overland  north 
from  Churchill  almost  as  far  as  Chesterfield  Inlet. 

299 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Chesterfield  Inlet  seemed  to  promise  the  passage  to 
the  South  Sea;  but  what  was  more  to  the  point — 
the  waters  in  this  part  of  the  bay  offered  great  oppor- 
tunities for  whale  fisheries.  With  the  threefold 
commission  of  discovering  mines,  the  passage  to  the 
South  Sea,  and  a  whale  fishery,  old  Captain  Knight 
sailed  from  Gravesend  on  June  3,  17 19,  ^^so  God  send 
the  good  ships  a  successful  Discovery  and  to  return  in 
safety — your  loving  friends ^^ — ran  the  words  of  the 
commission. 

Four  ships  there  were  in  the  fleet  that  sailed  this 
year:  The  Mary,  frigate,  under  Captain  Belcher, 
with  Mike  Grimmington,  Jr.,  now  chief  mate,  a  crew 
of  eighteen  and  a  passenger  list  of  new  servants  for 
York  and  Churchill,  among  them  Henry  Kelsey, 
to  be  governor  during  Knight's  absence  from 
Churchill;  the  frigate  Hudson's  Bay  under  Cap- 
tain Ward,  with  twenty-three  passengers  for  the 
south  end  of  the  bay;  and  the  two  ships  for  Knight's 
venture:  The  Discovery,  Captain  Vaughan;  The 
Albany,  Captain  Bailey,  with  fifty  men,  all  told, 
bound  for  the  unknown  North,  the  three  men,  Ben- 
jamin Fuller,  David  Newman  and  John  Awdry 
going  as  lieutenants  to  Captain  Knight.  Henry 
Kelsey  had  left  his  wife  in  London.  Each  of  the 
captains  had  given  bonds  of  £2,000  to  obey  Ejiight 
in  all  things. 

300 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

Knight  himself  is  now  eighty  years  of  age — an 
old  war  horse  limbering  up  to  battle  at  the  smell  of 
powder  smoke — his  ships  loaded  with  iron-hooped 
treasure  casks  to  carry  back  the  gold  dust.  The 
complete  frames  of  houses  are  carried  to  build  a  post 
in  the  North,  and  among  his  fifty  men  are  iron  forgers, 
armorers,  whalers  from  Dundee,  and  a  surgeon  paid 
the  unusual  salary  of  £50  a  year  on  account  of  the 
extraordinary  dangers  of  this  voyage.  Bailey  was 
probably  the  son  of  that  Bayly,  who  was  first  gov- 
ernor for  the  Adventurers  on  the  bay.  A  seasoned 
veteran,  he  had  passed  through  the  famous  siege  of 
Nelson  in  '97.  When  Knight  had  left  Albany  to 
come  to  England,  Fullerton  was  deputy  and  Bailey 
next  in  command.  There  was  peace  with  France, 
but  that  had  not  prevented  a  score  of  French  raiders 
coming  overland  to  ambush  the  English.  Bailey  got 
wind  of  the  raiders  hiding  in  the  woods  round  Albany 
and  shutting  gates,  bided  his  time.  Word  was  sent  to 
the  mate  of  his  ship  lying  off  shore,  at  the  sound  of  a 
cannon  shot  to  rush  to  the  rescue.  At  midnight  a 
thunderous  hammering  on  the  front  gates  summoned 
the  English  to  surrender.  Bailey  gingerly  opened 
the  wicket  at  the  side  of  the  gate  and  asked  what  was 
wanted. 

"Entrance,"  yelled  the  raiders,  confident  that 
they  had  taken  the  English  by  surprise. 

301 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Bailey  answered  that  the  Governor  was  asleep, 
but  he  would  go  and  fetch  the  keys.  The  raiders 
rallied  to  the  gate.  Bailey  put  the  match  lighters  to 
the  six-pounders  inside  and  let  fly  simultaneous 
charges  across  the  platform  where  the  raiders  crowded 
against  the  gate.  There  was  instant  slaughter,  a 
wild  yell,  and  a  rush  for  cover  in  the  woods,  but  the 
cannon  shot  had  brought  the  master  of  Bailey's  sloop 
running  ashore.  Raiders  and  sailors  dashed  into 
each  other's  faces,  with  the  result  that  the  crew  were 
annihilated  in  the  dark.  For  some  days  the  raiders 
hung  about  the  outskirts  of  the  woods,  burying  the 
dead,  waiting  for  the  wounded  to  heal,  and  hunting 
for  food.  A  solitary  Frenchman  was  observed  parad- 
ing the  esplanade  in  front  of  the  fort.  Fullerton 
came  out  and  demanded  what  he  wanted.  The 
fellow  made  no  answer  but  continued  his  solitary 
march  up  and  down  under  the  English  guns.  Fuller- 
ton  offered  to  accept  him  as  a  hostage  for  the  others' 
good  conduct,  but  the  man  was  mute  as  stone.  The 
English  governor  bade  him  be  off,  or  he  would  be 
shot.  The  strange  raider  continued  his  odd  tramp 
up  and  down  till  a  shot  from  the  fort  window  killed 
him  instantly.  The  only  explanation  of  the  incident 
was  that  the  man  must  have  been  crazed  by  the 
hardship  of  the  raid  and  by  the  horrors  of  the  mid- 
night slaughter. 

302 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

Bailey,  then,  was  the  man  chosen  as  the  captain 
of  The  Albany  and  Knight's  right-hand  man. 

The  ships  were  to  keep  together  till  they  reached 
the  entrance  of  the  straits,  the  two  merchantmen 
under  Ward  and  Belcher  then  to  go  fonvard  to  the 
fur  posts.  Knight's  two  ships  straight  west  for  Ches- 
terfield Inlet,  where  he  was  to  winter.  Two  guineas 
each,  the  Adventurers  gave  the  crews  of  each  ship 
that  afternoon  on  June  3,  at  Gravesend,  to  drink 
^^  God-speed,  a  prosperous  discovery,  a  jaire  wind, 
and  a  good  sail.^^ 

As  a  railway  is  now  being  actually  built  after  being 
projected  on  paper  for  more  than  twenty-five  years — 
from  the  western  prairie  to  a  seaport  on  Hudson 
Bay,  which  has  for  its  object  the  diversion  of  Western 
traffic  to  Europe  from  New  York  to  some  harbor  on 
Hudson  Bay,  it  is  necessary  to  give  in  detail  what  the 
archives  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  reveal  about 
this  route.  Hudson  Strait  opens  from  the  Atlantic 
between  Resolution  Island  on  the  north  and  the 
Button  Islands  on  the  south.  From  point  to  point, 
this  end  of  the  strait  is  forty-five  miles  wide.  .'Xt  the 
other  end,  the  west  side,  between  Digges'  Island  and 
Nottingham  Island,  is  a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles. 
From  east  to  west,  the  straits  are  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  long — wider  at  the  east  where  the  south 

303 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

side  is  known  as  Ungava  Bay,  contracting  at  the 
west,  to  the  Upper  Narrows.  The  south  side  of  the 
strait  is  Labrador;  the  north,  Baffin's  Land.  Both 
sides  are  lofty,  rocky,  cavernous  shores  lashed  by  a 
tide  that  rises  in  places  as  high  as  thirty-five  feet  and 
runs  in  calm  weather  ten  miles  an  hour.  Pink 
granite  islands  dot  the  north  shore  in  groups  that 
afford  harborage,  but  all  shores  present  an  adamant 
front,  edges  sharp  as  a  knife  or  else  rounded  hard  to 
have  withstood  and  cut  the  tremendous  ice  jam  of  a 
floating  world  suddenly  contracted  to  forty  miles, 
which  Davis  Strait  pours  down  at  the  east  end  and 
Fox  Channel  at  the  west. 

Seven  hundred  feet  is  considered  a  good-sized  hill ; 
one  thousand  feet,  a  mountain.  Both  the  north  and 
the  south  sides  of  the  straits  rise  tw'o  thousand  feet  in 
places.  Through  these  rock  walls  ice  has  poured 
and  torn  and  ripped  a  way  since  the  ice  age  preced- 
ing history,  cutting  a  great  channel  to  the  Atlantic. 
Here,  the  iron  walls  suddenly  break  to  secluded  silent 
valleys  moss-padded,  snow-edged,  lonely  as  the  day 
Earth  first  saw  light.  Down  these  valleys  pour  the 
clear  streams  of  the  eternal  snows,  burnished  as 
silver  against  the  green,  setting  the  silence  echoing 
with  the  tinkle  of  cataracts  over  some  rock  wall,  or 
filling  the  air  with  the  voice  of  many  waters  at  noon- 
tide thaw.   One  old  navigator — Coates — describes  the 

304 


Old  Captain  Kniylit  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

beat  of  the  angry  tide  at  the  rock  base  and  the  silver 
voice  of  the  mountain  brooks,  like  the  treble  and  bass 
of  some  great  cathedral  organ  sounding  its  diapason 
to  the  glory  of  God  in  this  peopleless  wilderness. 

Perhaps  the  kyacks  of  some  solitary  Eskimo, 
lashed  abreast  twos  and  threes  to  prevent  capsizing, 
may  shoot  out  from  some  of  these  bog-covered  val- 
leys like  seabirds;  but  it  is  only  when  the  Eskimos 
happen  to  be  hunting  here,  or  the  ships  of  the  whalers 
and  fur  traders  are  passing  up  and  down — that  there 
is  any  sign  of  human  habitiition  on  the  straits. 

Walrus  wallow  on  the  pink  granite  islands  in  huge 
herds.  Polar  bears  flounder  from  icepan  to  icepan. 
The  arctic  hare,  white  as  snow  but  for  the  great 
bulging  black  eye,  bounds  over  the  bowlders.  Snow 
buntings,  whistling  swans,  snow  geese,  ducks  in 
myriads — flacker  and  clacker  and  hold  solemn  con- 
clave on  the  adjoining  rocks,  as  though  this  were  their 
realm  from  the  beginning  and  for  all  time. 

Of  a  tremendous  depth  are  the  waters  of  the 
straits.  Not  for  nothing  has  the  ice  world  been 
grinding  through  this  narrow  channel  for  billions 
of  years.  No  fear  of  shoals  to  the  mariner.  Fear 
is  of  another  sort.  When  the  ice  is  running  in  a 
whirlpool  and  the  incoming  tide  meets  the  ice  jam 
and  the  waters  mount  thirty-five  feet  high  and  a  wind 
roars  between  the  high  shores  like  a  bellows — then  it 

305 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

is  that  the  straits  roll  and  pitch  and  funnel  their 
waters  into  black  troughs  where  the  ships  go  down. 
"Undertow,"  the  old  Hudson's  Bay  captains  called 
the  suck  of  the  tide  against  the  ice-wall;  and  that 
black  hole  where  the  lumpy  billows  seemed  to  part 
like  a  passage  between  wall  of  ice  and  wall  of  water 
was  what  the  mariners  feared.  The  other  great 
danger  was  just  a  plain  crush,  getting  nipped  between 
two  icepans  rearing  and  plunging  like  fighting  stal- 
lions, with  the  ice  blocks  going  off  like  pistol  shots 
or  smashed  glass.  No  child's  play  is  such  navigat- 
ing either  for  the  old  sailing  vessels  of  the  fur  traders 
or  the  modem  ice-breakers  propelled  by  steam! 
Yet,  the  old  sailing  vessels  and  the  whaling  fleets 
have  navigated  these  straits  for  two  hundred  years. 

Westward  of  the  straits,  the  shores  dropped  to  low, 
sandy  reaches  at  Mansfield  Island.  Another  five 
hundred  miles  across  the  bay  brought  the  ships  to 
Churchill  and  York  (Nelson). 

Here,  then,  came  Captain  Knight's  fleet.  And  the 
terrific  dangers  of  his  venture  met  him — as  it  were — 
on  the  spot.  The  records  do  not  give  the  exact  point 
of  the  disaster,  but  one  may  guess  without  stretching 
imagination  that  it  was  in  the  Upper  Narrows  where 
thirty-five  feet  of  lashing  tide  meet  a  churning  wall  of 
ice. 

The  .ships  were  embayed,  sails  lowered,  rudders 
306 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

unshipped,  and  anchors  put  out  for  the  night.  Night 
did  not  mean  dark.  It  meant  the  sunlight  aslant  the 
ice  fields  and  pools  in  hues  of  fire  that  tinted  the 
green  waves  and  set  rainbows  playing  in  the  spray. 
Gulls  wheeled  and  screamed  overhead.  Cascades 
tinkled  over  the  ice  walls.  There  was  the  deep  still- 
ness of  twilight  calm,  then  the  quiver  of  the  ship's 
timbers  forewarning  the  rising  tide,  then  the  long, 
low  undertone  of  the  ocean  depths  gathering  might 
to  hurl  against  the  iron  forces  of  the  ice.  The 
crews  had  been  rambling  over  the  ice  but  were  now 
recalled  to  be  on  the  watch  as  the  tide  rose.  Some 
were  at  the  windlass  ready  to  heave  anchors  up  at 
first  opening  of  clear  water;  others  ready  to  lower 
boats  and  tow  from  dangers ;  others  again  preparing 
blasts  of  powder  to  blow  up  the  ice  if  the  tide  threat- 
ened to  close  the  floes  in  a  squeeze.  Captain  Ward's 
men  must  have  been  out  on  the  ice,  for  it  happened 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  as  such  wrecks  alwa\5 
happened,  and  not  a  man  was  lost.  Two  icepans 
reared  up,  smashed  together,  crushed  the  frigate 
Hudson's  Bay,  like  an  eggshell  and  she  sank  a 
water-logged  wreck  before  their  eyes.  Ward's  crew 
were  at  once  taken  on  board  by  Belcher,  and  when 
the  ice  loosened,  carried  on  down  to  York  and 
Albany.  There  was  a  lawsuit  against  the  Company 
for  the  wages  of  these  men  wrecked  outward  bound 

307 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  kept  in  idleness  on  the  bay  for  thirteen  months. 
The  matter  was  compromised  by  the  Company 
paying  ten  months'  wages  instead  of  thirteen. 

Captain  Knight  waited  only  long  enough  at 
Churchill  to  leave  the  fort  provisions.  Then  he  set 
out  on  his  quest  to  the  north.  This  could  scarcely 
be  described  as  foolhardy,  for  his  ships  carried  the 
frames  for  houses  to  winter  in  the  North.  From 
this  point  on,  the  stor}^  must  be  pieced  together  of 
fragments.  From  the  time  Captain  Knight  left 
Churchill,  in  17 19,  his  journal  ceases.  No  line  more 
came  from  the  game  old  pathfinder  to  the  Company. 
The  year  17 19  passed,  1720,  1721,  still  no  word  of 
him.  Surely,  he  must  have  passed  through  the 
Straits  of  Anian  to  the  South  Sea  and  would  presently 
come  home  from  Asia  laden  with  spices  and  gold 
dust  for  the  Company.  But  why  didn't  he  send  back 
one  of  the  little  whaling  boats  to  Churchill  with  word 
of  his  progress;  or  why  didn't  some  of  the  men  come 
down  from  the  whaling  station  he  was  to  establish  at 
Chesterfield  Inlet?  Henry  Kelsey  takes  a  cruise  on 
the  sloop  Prosperous  from  York,  in  17 19,  but  finds 
no  trace  of  him.  Hancock  has  been  cruising  the 
whaling  seas  on  The  Success  that  same  summer,  but 
he  learns  nothing  of  Knight.  The  whole  summer 
of  1 72 1,  while  whaling,  Kelsey  is  on  the  lookout  for 

308 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

the  peaked  sails  of  Knight's  ships;  but  he  sees 
never  a  sail.  Napper  is  sent  out  again  on  the  sloop 
Success,  but  he  runs  amuck  of  a  reef  four  days  from 
Nelson  River  and  loses  his  ship  and  almost  his  life. 

Three  full  years  were  long  enough  for  Knight  to 
have  circumnavigated  the  globe.  By  1721,  the  Com- 
pany was  so  thoroughly  alarmed  that  it  bought  The 
Whalebone,  sloop — John  Scroggs,  master — and  sent 
it  from  Gravesend  on  the  31st  of  May  to  search  for 
Knight.  Two  years  Scroggs  searched  the  north- 
west coast  of  the  bay,  but  the  northwest  coast  of 
the  bay  is  one  thousand  miles  in  and  out,  and  Scroggs 
missed  the  hidden  hole-in-the-wall  that  might  have 
given  up  the  secret  of  the  sea.  Norton  traveling 
inland  with  the  Indians  hears  disquieting  stories, 
and  some  whalers  chancing  North,  in  1726,  discover 
a  new  harbor  at  the  bottom  of  which  lie  cannon, 
anchors,  bits  of  iron,  but  it  is  not  till  fifty  years  later 
that  the  story  is  learned  in  detail. 

Here  it  is: 

Knight  steered  for  that  western  arm  of  the  sea 
known  as  Chesterfield  Inlet.  It  was  here  that  Norton 
had  heard  legends  of  copper  mines  and  seen  evi- 
dences of  tide  water.  Just  south  of  Chesterfield 
Inlet  is  a  group  of  white  quartz  islands  the  largest 
five  by  twenty  miles,  known  as  Marble  Island,  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  bare  of  growth  as  a  gravestone. 

309 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Bedford  whalers  of  modern  days  have  called  it  by 
another  name — Dead  Man's  Island. 

At  the  extreme  east  is  a  hole-like  cavity  in  the  rock 
wall  where  Eskimos  were  wont  to  shoot  in  with  their 
bladder  boats  and  hide  from  the  fury  of  the  northeast 
gale.  One  night  as  the  autumn  storms  raged,  the 
Indians  were  amazed  to  see  two  huge  shadows  emerge 
from  the  lashing  hurricane  like  floating  houses — 
driving  straight  as  an  arrow  for  the  mark  to  certain 
destruction  between  an  angry  sea  and  the  rock  wall. 
If  there  were  cries  for  help,  they  were  drowned  by  the 
shrieks  of  the  hurricane.  In  the  morning,  when  the 
storm  had  abated,  the  Indians  saw  that  the  shadows 
had  been  whitemen's  ships.  The  large  one  had 
struck  on  the  reefs  and  sunk.  The  other  was  a  mass 
of  wave-beaten  wreckage  on  the  shore,  but  the  white 
men  were  toiling  like  demons,  saving  the  timbers. 
Presently,  the  whites  began  to  erect  a  framework 
— their  winter  house.  To  the  wondering  Eskimos, 
the  thing  rose  like  magic.  The  Indians  grasped 
their  kyacks  and  fled  in  terror. 

It  need  scarcely  be  told — these  were  Knight's 
treasure-seekers,  wrecked  without  saving  a  pound 
of  provisions  on  an  island  bare  as  a  billiard  ball 
twenty  miles  from  the  mainland.  How  did  the  crews 
pass  that  winter?  Their  only  food  must  have  been 
such  wild  cranberries  as  they  could  gather  under  the 

310 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

drifting  snows,  arctic  hares,  snowbirds,  perhaps  the 
carcass  of  an  occasional  dead  porpoise  or  whale. 
When  the  Indians  came  back  in  the  summer  of 
1720,  there  were  very  few  whitemen  left,  but  there 
was  a  great  number  of  graves — graves  scooped  out 
of  drift  sand  with  bowlders  for  a  tombstone.  The 
survivors  seemed  to  be  starving.  They  fell  like  wild 
beasts  on  the  raw  seal  meat  and  whale  oil  that  the 
Eskimos  gave  them.  They  seemed  to  be  trying  to 
make  a  boat  out  of  the  driftwood  that  had  been  left 
of  that  winter's  fuel.  The  next  time  the  Eskimos 
visited  the  castaways,  there  were  only  two  men  alive. 
These  were  demented  with  despair,  passing  the  time 
weeping  and  going  to  the  highest  rock  on  the  island 
to  watch  for  a  sail  at  sea.  Their  clothes  had  been 
worn  to  tatters.  They  were  clad  in  the  skins  of  the 
chase  and  looked  like  madmen.  From  the  Indians' 
account,  it  was  now  two  years  from  the  time  of  the 
wreck.  What  ammunition  had  been  saved  from  the 
ships,  must  have  been  almost  exhausted.  How  these 
two  men  kept  life  in  their  bodies  for  two  winters  in 
the  most  bitterly  cold,  exposed  part  of  Hudson  Bay, 
huddling  in  their  snow-buried  liut  round  fires  of 
moss  and  driftwood,  with  the  howling  north  wind 
chanting  the  death  song  of  the  winding  sheet,  and 
the  scream  of  the  hungry  were-wolf  borne  to  their  ears 
in  the  storm' — can  better  be  imagined  than  described. 

311 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Why  did  not  they  tiy  to  escape?  Possibly,  because 
they  were  weakened  by  famine  and  scurvy.  Surely 
Bering's  Russians  managed  better  when  storm  cast 
them  on  a  barren  island  while  they  were  searching 
this  same  mythical  passage.  They  drifted  home  on 
the  wreckage.  Why  could  not  these  men  have  tried 
to  escape  in  the  same  way?  In  the  first  place,  they 
did  not  know  they  were  only  twelve  miles  from  the 
main  coast.  Cast  on  Marble  Island  in  the  storm 
and  the  dark,  they  had  no  idea  where  they  were, 
except  that  it  was  in  the  North  and  in  a  harbor 
facing  east.  Of  the  two  last  survivors,  one  seemed 
to  be  the  armorer,  or  else  that  surgeon  who  was  to 
receive  ;^5o  for  the  extraordinary  dangers  of  this 
voyage,  for  he  was  constantly  working  with  metal 
instruments  to  rivet  the  planks  of  his  raft  to- 
gether. But  he  was  destined  to  perish  as  his  com- 
rades. When  his  companion  died,  the  man  tried  to 
scoop  out  a  grave  in  the  sand.  It  was  too  much  for 
his  strength.  He  fell  as  he  toiled  over  the  grave  and 
died  among  the  EskimxO  tents.  So  perished  Captain 
Knight  and  his  treasure-seekers,  including  the  veteran 
Bailey — as  Hudson  had  perished  before  them — taken 
as  toll  of  man's  progress  by  the  insatiable  sea.  Not 
a  secret  has  been  wrested  from  the  Unknown,  not  a 
milepost  won  for  civilization  from  savagery,  but  some 
life  has  paid  for  the  secret  to  go  down  in  despair 

312 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

and  defeat;  but  some  bleaching  skeleton  of  a  name- 
less failure  marks  where  the  mile  forward  was  won. 
The  lintel  of  every  doorway  to  advancement  is  ever 
marked  with  some  blood  sacrifice. 

Whalers  in  1726,  saw  the  cannon  and  anchors 
lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  harbor,  also  casks  with  iron 
hoops — that  were  to  bring  back  the  gold  dust. 
Heame,  in  1769,  could  count  where  the  graves  had 
been  scraped  up  by  the  wolves,  and  he  gathered  up 
the  skeletons  along  the  beach  to  bury  them  in  a  com- 
mon grave.  Latterly,  oddly  enough,  that  island  was 
the  rendezvous  of  Northern  whalers — where  they 
came  from  the  far  North  to  bury  their  dead  and  set 
up  crosses  for  those  who  lie  in  the  sea  without  a 
grave.    It  was  known  as  Dead  Man's  Island. 

After  giving  an  account  of  three  wrecks  in  four 
years,  I  hope  it  may  not  seem  inconsistent  to  say  that 
I  believe  the  next  century  will  see  a  Hudson's  Bay 
route  to  Europe.  What — you  say — after  telling  of 
three  wrecks  in  four  years?  Yes — what  Atlantic  port 
does  not  have  six  wrecks  in  ten  years?  New  York 
and  Montreal  have  more.  If  the  Hudson's  Bay 
route  is  not  fit  for  navigation,  the  country  must  make 
it  fit  for  navigation.  Of  telegraphs,  shelters,  light- 
houses, there  is  not  now  one.  Canals  have  been  dug 
for  less  cause  than  the  Upper  Narrows  of  Hudson 

3^3 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Straits.  If  Peter  the  Great  had  waited  till  St.  Peters- 
burg was  a  fit  site  for  a  city,  there  would  have  been 
no  St.  Petersburg.  He  made  it  fit.  The  same 
problem  confronts  northwest  America  to-day.  It  is 
absurd  that  a  population  of  millions  has  no  seaport 
nearer  than  two  thousand  miles.  Churchill  or  York 
would  be  seaports  in  the  middle  of  the  continent. 
Of  course,  there  would  be  wrecks  and  difficulties. 
The  wrecks  are  part  of  the  toll  we  pay  for  harnessing 
the  sea.  The  difficulties  are  what  make  nations  great. 
One  day  was  the  delay  allowed  the  fur  ships  for  the 
straits.  Who  has  not  waited  longer  than  one  day 
to  enter  New  York  harbor  or  Montreal? 

Meanwhile,  moneybags  at  home  were  counting 
their  shekels.  A  wild  craze  of  speculation  was  sweep- 
ing over  England.  It  was  a  fever  of  getting-some- 
thing-for-nothing,  floating  wild  schemes  of  paper 
capital  to  be  sold  to  the  public  for  pounds,  shillings 
and  pence.  In  modem  language  it  would  be  called 
"wild-catting."  The  staid  "old  Worthies"— as  the 
Adventurers  were  contemptuously  designated — were 
caught  by  the  craze.  It  was  decided  on  August  19, 
1720,  to  increase  the  capital  of  the  Company  from 
;^3i,5oo  to  £378,000  to  be  paid  for  in  subscriptions 
of  10  per  cent,  installments.  Before  the  scheme  had 
matured,  the  bubble  of  speculation  had  collapsed. 

314 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

Money  could  neither  be  borrowed  nor  begged.  The 
plan  to  enlarge  the  stock  was  dropped  as  it  stood — 
with  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  £103,950  paid 
in — which  practically  meant  that  the  former  capital 
of  £31*  500  had  been  trebled  and  an  additional  10 
per  cent,  levied. 

On  this  twice-trebled  capital  of  £103,950,  divi- 
dends of  5  per  cent,  were  paid  in  1721 ;  of  8  per  cent, 
in  1722;  of  12  per  cent,  in  1723  and  '24;  of  10  per 
cent,  from  1725  to  1737,  when  the  dividends  fell  to 
8  per  cent,  and  went  up  again  to  10  per  cent,  in  1739. 
From  1723,  instead  of  leaving  the  money  idle  in  the 
strong  box,  it  was  invested  by  the  Company  in  bonds 
that  bore  interest  till  their  ships  came  home.  From 
1735,  the  Bank  of  England  regularly  advanced  money 
for  the  Company's  operations.  Sir  Bibye  Lake  was 
governor  from  the  time  he  received  such  good  terms 
in  the  French  treaty.  The  governor's  salary  is  now 
£200,  the  deputy's  £150,  the  committeemen  £100 
each. 

It  was  in  February,  1724,  that  a  warehouse  was 
leased  in  Lime  Street  at  £12  a  year,  the  present 
home  of  the  Company. 

In  four  years,  the  Company  had  lost  four  vessels. 
These  were  replaced  by  four  bigger  frigates,  and 
there  come  into  the  service  the  names  of  captains 
famous  on  Hudson  Bay — Belcher,  and  Goston,  and 

31S 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Spurell,  and  Kennedy,  and  Christopher  Middleton, 
and  Coates,  and  Isbister,  with  officers  of  the  names  of 
Inkster,  and  Kipling,  and  Maclish,  and  MacKenzie, 
and  Gunn,  and  Clement.  Twice  in  ten  years.  Cap- 
tain Coates  is  wrecked  in  the  straits,  on  the  26th  of 
June,  1727,  outward  bound  with  all  cargo  and  again 
on  the  frigate  Hudson'' s  Bay  in  1736,  when  ^^we 
sank,^^  relates  Coates,  '^less  than  ten  minutes  after 
we  were  caught  by  the  ice.^^ 

From  being  an  apprentice  boy  traveling  inland 
to  the  Indians,  Richard  Norton  has  become  governor 
of  Churchill,  with  an  Indian  wife  and  half-Indian 
sons  sent  to  England  for  education.  Norton  receives 
orders,  in  1736,  once  more  to  explore  Chesterfield 
Inlet  where  Knight  had  perished.  Napper  on  The 
Churchill,  sloop,  and  Robert  Crow  on  The  Musquash 
carry  him  up  in  the  summer  of  1737.  Napper  dies 
of  natural  causes  on  the  voyage,  but  Chesterfield 
Inlet  is  found  to  be  a  closed  arm  of  the  sea,  not  a 
passage  to  the  Pacific;  and  widow  Napper  is  voted 
fifty  guineas  from  the  Company.  Kelsey  dies  in  1 7  29 , 
and  widow  Kelsey,  too,  is  voted  a  bounty  of  ten 
guineas,  her  boy  to  be  taken  as  apprentice. 

In  1736,  Captain  Middleton  draws  plans  for  the 
building  of  a  fine  new  post  at  Moose  and  of  a  stone 
fort  at  Eskimo  Point,  Churchill,  which  shall  be  the 
strongest  fort  in  America.     The  walls  are  to  be  six- 

316 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 

teen  feet  high  of  solid  stone  with  a  depth  of  twenty- 
four  feet  solid  masonry  at  base.  On  the  point  op- 
posite Eskimo  Cape,  at  Cape  Merry,  named  after 
the  deputy  governor,  are  to  be  blockhouses  ten  feet 
high  with  six  great  guns  mounted  where  watch  is  to  be 
kept  night  and  day. 

Moose  will  send  up  the  supply  of  timber  for 
Churchill,  and  the  Company  sends  from  London 
sixty-eight  builders,  among  whom  is  one  Joseph 
Robson,  at  ;^25  a  year,  who  afterward  writes  furious 
attacks  on  the  Company.  Barely  is  Moose  com- 
pleted when  it  is  burned  to  the  ground,  through  the 
carelessness  of  the  cook  spilling  coals  from  his  bake 
oven. 

Two  things,  perhaps,  stirred  the  Company  up  to 
this  unwonted  activity.  Spies  were  coming  overland 
from  St.  Lawrence — French  explorers  working  their 
way  westward,  led  by  La  Verendrye.  ^"We  warn 
you^^  the  Company  wrote  to  each  of  its  factors  at  this 
time,  ^^meei  these  spies  very  civily  hut  do  not  ofjer 
to  detain  them  and  on  no  account  suffer  such  to  come 
within  the  gates  nor  let  the  servants  converse  with 
them,  and  use  all  legal  methods  to  make  them  depart 
and  he  on  your  guard  not  to  tell  the  company s  secrets^ 

Then  in  1 740,  came  a  bolt  from  the  blue.  Cap- 
tain Christopher  Middlcton,  their  tnisted  officer, 
publicly  resigned  from  the  service  to  go  into  the 

317 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

King's  navy  for  the  discovery  of  a  Northwest  Passage 
through  Hudson  Bay. 

Notes  on  Chapter  XVI. — Of  Baffin's  Land,  Dr.  Bell,  who 
personally  explored  Hudson  Bay  in  1885  for  the  Dominion  Gov- 
ernment, says:  "These  ancient  grounds  probably  contain  rich 
Slacer  gold  m  the  valleys  of  the  streams."  The  mica  mines  of 
iaffin's  Land  were  being  mined  in  1906. 

The  name  of  the  captain,  who  perished  with  Knight,  is  our 
friend  Bailey  of  the  Iberville  siege ;  not  Barlow,  as  all  modern 
histories  copying  from  Hearne  and  1749  Pari.  Report  give. 
The  minutes  of  the  H.  B.  C.  show  that  Barlow  is  a  misprint  for 
Berley,  and  Berley  for  Bailey,  which  name  is  given  repeatedly 
in  the  minutes  in  connection  with  this  voyage. 

The  account  of  Bering's  efforts  to  find  the  Straits  of  Anian 
and  of  his  similar  fate  will  be  found  in  "Vikings  of  the  Pacific." 

All  the  printed  accounts  of  Knight's  disaster  say  he  win- 
tered at  Churchill  in  1719-20.  This  is  wrong,  as  shown  by  the 
unprinted  records  of  H.  B.  C.  He  sailed  at  once  for  the  North. 
All  printed  accounts — except  Hearne's — give  the  place  of  dis- 
aster as  the  west  end  of  Marble  Island.  This  is  a  mistake.  It 
was- at  the  east  end  as  given  in  the  French  edition  of  Hearne. 
Hearne  it  is,  who  gives  the  only  account  of  Bailey's  defense  of 
Albany  in  1704,  only  Hearne  calls  Bailey,  Barlow,  which  the 
records  show  to  be  wrong. 

An  almost  parallel  wreck  to  that  of  Knight's  took  place  at 
Gull  Island  off  Newfoundland  twenty-five  years  ago.  A  whole 
shipload  of  castaways  perished  on  a  barren  island  in  sight  of 
their  own  harbor  lights,  only  in  the  case  of  Gull  Island,  the 
castaways  did  not  survive  longer  than  a  few  weeks.  They  lived 
under  3.  piece  of  canvas  and  subsisted  on  snow-water. 

It  was  not  till  1 73 1  that  Knight's  Journals  as  left  at  Churchill 
were  sent  home  to  London.     They  cease  at  17 19. 

Richard  Norton  first  went  North  by  land  in  17 18.  His  next 
trip  was  after  Knight's  death;  his  next,  by  boat  as  told  in  this 
chapter. 

In  1723,  Samuel  Hopkins  was  sent  home  in  irons  from  Albany 
for  three  times  absconding  over  the  walls  to  the  woods  without 
Governor  Myatt's  leave.  Examined  by  the  committee,  he 
would  give  no  excuse  and  was  publicly  dismissed  with  loss  of 


Old  Captain  Knight  Beset  by  Gold  Fever 


wages.  Examined  later  privately,  he  was  re-engaged  with 
honor — which  goes  to  prove  that  Myatt  may  have  been  one 
of  those  governors,  who  ruled  his  men  with  the  thick  end  of  an 
oar. 

At  this  period,  servants  for  the  first  time  were  allowed  to  go 
to  the  woods  to  trap  and  were  given  one  half  the  proceeeds  of 
their  hunt. 


319 


CHAPTER  XVII 

I 740-1 7 70 

THE  company's  PROSPERITY  AROUSES  OPPOSITION — 
ARTHUR  DOBBS  AND  THE  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 
AND  THE  ATTACK  ON  THE  CHARTER — NO  NORTH- 
WEST PASSAGE  IS  FOUND  BUT  THE  FRENCH  SPUR 
.  THE  ENGLISH  TO  RENEWED  ACTIVITY 

FOR  fifty  years,  the  Company  had  been  paying 
dividends  that  never  went  lower  than  7  per 
cent,  and  generally  averaged  10.  These 
dividends  were  on  capital  that  had  been  twice  trebled. 
The  yearly  fur  sales  yielded  from  ;;^2o,ooo  to  £30,000 
to  the  Adventurers — twice  and  three  times  the  orig- 
inal capital,  which — it  must  be  remembered — was 
not  all  subscribed  in  cash.  French  hunters  had  been 
penetrating  America  from  the  St.  Lawrence.  Bering 
had  discovered  Alaska  on  the  west  for  Russia.  La 
Verendrye  had  discovered  the  great  inland  plains 
between  the  Saskatchewan  and  the  Missouri,  for 
France.  It  was  just  beginning  to  dawn  on  men's 
minds  what  a  vast  domain  lay  between  the  planta- 
tions of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  the  Western  Sea. 
It  was  inevitable  that  men  should  ask  themselves 

320 


The  Company's  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 

whether  Charles  11.  had  any  right  to  deed  away  for- 
ever that  vast  domain  to  those  court  favorites  and 
their  heirs  known  as  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 
To  be  sure,  Parliament  had  confirmed  the  charter 
when  the  Stuart  House  fell;  but  the  charter  had 
been  confirmed  for  only  seven  years.  Those  seven 
years  had  long  since  expired,  and  the  original  stock 
of  the  fur  company  had  passed  from  the  heirs 
of  the  original  grantees  to  new  men-^stock  specu- 
lators and  investors.  With  the  exception  of  royalty, 
there  was  not  a  single  stockholder  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  by  1 740,  who  was  an  heir  of  the  orig- 
inal men  named  in  the  original  charter.  Men  asked 
themselves — had  these  stockholders  any  right  to  hold 
monopoly  against  all  other  traders  over  a  western 
domain  the  size  of  half  Europe?  The  charter  had 
been  granted  in  the  first  place  as  a  reward  for  efforts 
to  find  passage  to  the  South  Sea.  What  had  the 
Company  done  to  find  a  passage  to  the  Pacific? 
Sent  Knight  and  his  fifty  men  hunting  gold  sands  in 
the  North,  where  they  perished ;  and  dispatched 
half  a  dozen  little  sloops  north  of  Chesterfield  Inlet 
to  hunt  whales.  This  had  the  Adventurers  done  to 
earn  their  charter,  and  ever  since  sat  snugly  at  home 
drawing  dividends  on  twice-trebled  capital  equal 
to  90  per  cent,  on  the  original  stock,  intrenched 
behind  the  comfortable  feudal  notion  that  it  was 

321 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  manifest  design  of  an  All  Wise  Providence  to  . 
create  this  world  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  who  can 
get  on  top  and  exploit  the  many  to  the  profit  of  the 
aforesaid  few. 

We,  whose  modem  democracy  is  working  ten- 
fold worse  injustice  by  favors  to  the  few  against  the 
many,  must  have  a  care  how  we  throw  stones  at  that 
old  notion.  Feudalism  in  the  history  of  the  race — 
had  its  place.  It  was  the  system  by  which  the 
bravest  man  led  the  clan  and  ruled  because  he  was 
fittest  to  rule  as  well  as  to  protect.  Of  all  those 
rivals  now  yelping  enviously  at  the  Company's  privi- 
leges— which  could  point  to  an  ancestor,  who  had 
been  willing  to  brave  the  perils  of  a  first  essay  to 
Hudson  Bay?  We  have  seen  how  even  yet  the 
Company  could  obtain  servants  only  by  dint  of 
promising  bounties  and  wives  and  dowries;  how  the 
men  under  command  of  the  first  navigators  balked 
and  reared  and  mutinied  at  the  slightest  risk ;  how — 
in  spite  of  all  we  can  say  against  feudalism — it  was 
the  spirit  of  feudalism,  the  spirit  of  the  exclusive 
favored  few,  that  faced  the  first  risks  and  bought 
success  by  willing,  reckless  death,  and  later  fought 
like  demons  to  hold  the  bay  against  France. 

It  was  one  Arthur  Dobbs,  a  gentleman  and  scholar, 
who  voiced  the  general  sentiment  rising  against  the 

322 


The  Compafiy^s  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 

privileges  of  the  Company.  Dobbs  had  been  bitten 
by  that  strange  mania  wliich  had  lured  so  many  and 
was  yet  to  lure  more  brave  seamen  to  their  death. 
He  was  sure  there  was  a  Northwest  Passage.  Granted 
that;  and  the  sins  of  the  fur  traders  became  enormi- 
ties. Either  they  had  not  earned  their  charter  by 
searching  the  Northwest  Passage,  or  if  they  had 
found  it,  they  had  kept  the  discovery  a  secret  through 
jealousy  of  their  trade.  Dobbs  induced  the  Ad- 
miralty to  set  aside  two  vessels  for  the  search.  Then 
he  persuaded  Captain  Middleton,  who  had  for 
twenty  years  navigated  Hudson  Bay,  to  resign  the 
service  of  the  Company  and  lead  the  government 
expedition  of  1 741-2. 

Around  this  expedition  raged  a  maelstrom  of  ill 
feeling  and  false  accusations  and  lies.  The  Com- 
pany were  jealous  of  their  trade  and  almost  instantly 
instructed  their  Governing  Committee  to  take  secret 
means  to  prevent  this  expedition  causing  encroach- 
ment on  their  rights.  This  only  aroused  the  fury  of 
the  Admiralty.  The  Company  were  given  to  under- 
stand that  if  they  did  not  do  all  they  could  to  facili- 
tate Middleton's  search,  they  might  lose  their 
charter.  On  this,  the  Company  ordered  their  factors 
on  the  bay  to  afford  Middleton  every  aid,  but  judging 
from  the  factors'  conduct,  it  may  be  surmised  that 
secret  instructions  of  another  nature  were  sent  out. 

323 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

When  Middleton  came  to  Churchill  in  July  on 
The  Furnace  Bomb  and  Discovery,  he  found  buoys 
cut,  harbor  lights  out  and  a  governor  mad  as  a 
hornet,  who  forbade  the  searchers  to  land,  or  have 
any  intercourse  with  the  Indians.  Taking  two 
Indians  as  guides,  Middleton  proceeded  north  as 
far  as  66° — in  the  region  of  Rowe's  Welcome  beyond 
Chesterfield  Inlet.  Here,  he  w^as  utterly  blocked  by 
the  ice,  and  the  expedition  returned  to  England  a 
failure. 

It  was  at  this  point  the  furor  arose.  It  was 
charged  tliat  the  Company  had  bribed  Middleton 
with £5,000  not  to  find  a  passage;  that  he  had  sailed 
east  instead  of  west ;  that  he  had  cast  the  two  Indian 
guides  adrift  at  Marble  Island  with  scant  means  of 
reaching  the  main  shore  alive;  and  that  while  winter- 
ing in  Churchill  he  had  been  heard  to  say,  "That 
the  Company  need  not  be  uneasy,  for  if  he  did  find 
a  passage,  no  one  on  earth  would  be  a  bit  the  wiser." 
The  quarrel,  which  set  England  by  the  ears  for  ten 
years  and  caused  a  harvest  of  bitter  pamphlets  that 
would  fill  a  small  library — need  not  be  dealt  with 
here. 

Middleton  knew  there  was  no  passage  for  com- 
mercial purpose.  That  the  Admiralty  accepted  his 
verdict  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
permanently  appointed  in  the  king's  service;   but 

324 


The  Companijs  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 

Dobbs  was  not  satisfied.  He  hurled  baseless  charges 
at  Middleton,  waged  relentless  pamphlet  war  against 
the  Company  and  showered  petitions  on  Parliament. 
Parliament  was  persuaded  to  ofifer  a  reward  of 
£20,000  to  any  one  finding  a  passage  to  the  Pacific. 
Dobbs  then  formed  an  opposition  company,  opened 
subscriptions  for  a  capital  of  ;i^io,ooo  in  one  hundred 
shares  of  £100  each  for  a  second  expedition,  and 
petitioned  the  king  for  a  grant  of  all  lands  found 
adjacent  to  the  waters  discovered,  7c^///t  the  ^rights 
of  exclusive  trade.  Exclusive  trade!  There — the 
secret  was  out — the  cloven  hoof!  It  was  not  because 
they  had  not  earned  their  charter,  that  the  Adven- 
turers had  been  assailed;  but  because  rivals,  them- 
selves, wanted  rights  to  exclusive  trade.  To  these 
petitions,  the  Company  showered  back  counter- 
memorials;  and  memorials  of  special  privileges  be- 
coming the  fashion,  other  merchants  of  London,  in 
1752,  asked  for  the  grant  of  all  Labrador;  to  which 
the  Company  again  registered  its  counter-memorial. 

The  furor  materialized  in  two  things:  the  expedi- 
tion of  the  Dobbs  Company  to  find  the  Northwest 
Passage  in  1746-47,  and  the  Parliamentar}'  Inquiry, 
in  1748-49,  to  look  into  the  rights  and  workings  of 
the  Adventurers'  charter. 

TJie  Dobbs  galley,  under  Captain  Moore  was  one 
hundred  and  eighty  tons;    Tlie  Calijoniia,  Captain 

325 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Smith,  one  hundred  and  forty  tons;  and  to  the  crews 
of  both,  rewards  for  the  discovery  of  the  Passage 
to  the  South  Sea  were  to  be  given  ranging  from 
£500  for  the  captains  to  ;i^2oo  to  be  divided  among 
the  sailors.  Henry  Ellis  went  as  agent  for  the  Dobbs 
Company.  The  name  of  The  Calijornia  was  indic- 
ative of  where  these  argonauts  hoped  to  sail.  Oddly 
enough,  that  Captain  Middleton,  whom  the  Dobbs 
forces  had  so  mercilessly  belabored — accompanied 
the  explorers  some  distance  westward  from  the  Ork- 
neys on  The  Shark  as  convoy  against  French  pirates. 
After  leaving  Middleton,  one  of  the  vessels  suffered 
an  experience  that  very  nearly  finished  Arthur  Dobbs' 
enterprise.  "Nothing  had  occurred,"  writes  Ellis, 
"till  the  2 1  St  of  June,  at  night,  when  a  terrible  fire 
broke  out  in  the  great  cabin  of  The  Dobbs,  and 
quickly  made  progress  to  the  powder  room,  where 
there  were  not  less  than  thirty-six  or  forty  barrels  of 
powder  besides  other  combustibles.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  express  the  consternation.  Every  one  on 
board  had  every  reason  to  expect  that  moment  was 
their  last.  You  might  hear  all  varieties  of  sea- 
eloquence,  cries,  prayers,  curses,  scolding,  mingled 
together.  Water  was  passed  along  by  those  who 
still  preserved  their  reason,  but  the  crew  were  for 
hoisting  out  the  boats.  Lashings  were  cut,  but  none 
had  patience  to  hoist  them  out.    The  ship  was  head 

326 


The  Compani/s  Prosperity  Arouses   Opposition 

to  wind,  the  sails  shaking  and  making  a  noise  Hke 
thunder,  then  running  right  before  the  wind  and 
rolling,  every  one  on  deck  waiting  for  the  blast  to  put 
an  end  to  our  fears." 

The  fire  was  put  out  before  it  reached  the  powder, 
but  one  can  guess  the  scare  dampened  the  ardor  of 
the  crew.  Very  little  ice  was  met  in  Hudson  Straits 
and  by  August  19,  the  vessels  were  at  Marble  Island. 
The  season  was  tqo  late  to  go  on  north,  so  the  ships 
sailed  to  winter  at  York  (Nelson)  on  Hayes  River. 
Here,  the  usual  quarrels  took  place  with  the  Hudson's 
Bay  people — buoys  and  flag  signals  being  cut  down 
as  the  ships  ran  through  the  shoals  of  Five-Fathom 
Hole,  five  miles  up  Hayes  River.  A  fort  called 
Montague  House  was  built  for  the  winter  on  the 
south  side,  the  main  house  being  a  two-story  log- 
barracks,  the  outbuildings,  a  sort  of  lean-to,  or 
wooden  wigwam  banked  up  with  snow,  where  the 
crews  could  have  quarters.  The  harbor  was  frozen 
over  by  October  8.  Heavy  fur  clothing  was  then 
donned  for  the  winter,  but  in  spite  of  precautions 
against  scurvy — exercise,  the  use  of  spruce  beer,  out- 
door life — four  men  died  from  the  disease  before  ice 
cleared  from  Hayes  River  in  June. 

It  need  not  Ix;  told  here  that  no  passage  was  found. 
As  the  boats  advanced  farther  and  farther  north  of 
Rowe's  Welcome  toward  Fox  Channel,  the  hope- 

2,27 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

lessness  of  the  quest  became  apparent.  Before  them 
lay  an  ice  world,  "As  gloomy  a  prospect,"  writes 
Ellis,  "as  ever  astonished  mortal  eyes.  The  ragged 
rocks  seemed  to  hang  above  our  heads.  In  some 
places  there  were  falls  of  water  dashing  from  cliff 
to  clifif.  From  others,  hung  icicles  like  the  pipes 
of  a  vast  organ.  But  the  most  overwhelming  things 
were  the  shattered  crags  at  our  feet,  which  appeared 
to  have  burst  from  the  mountains  through  the  power 
of  the  frost — amazing  relics  of  the  wreck  of  nature." 
In  October  of  1747,  the  ships  were  back  on  the 
Thames. 

If  Dobbs'  Expedition  had  found  a  Northwest 
Passage,  the  history  of  the  Adventurers  would  close 
here.  With  the  merchants  of  London  a  unit  against 
the  charter  and  the  Admiralty  open  to  persuasion 
from  either  side,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
discovery  of  a  way  to  China  through  Hudson  Bay 
would  have  sounded  the  death  knell  of  the  Company. 
But  the  Dobbs  Expedition  was  a  failure.  The 
Company's  course  was  vindicated,  and  when  the 
Parliamentary  Committee  of  1748-49  met,  affairs 
were  judiciously  and  I  must  believe  intentionally 
steered  away  from  the  real  question — the  validity  of 
the  charter — to  such  side  issues  as  the  Northwest 
Passage,  the  state  of  the  Indians,  whether  the  coun- 

328 


The  Company's  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 

try  could  be  inhabited  or  not,  questions — it  will  be 
noticed — on  which  no  one  was  competent  to  give 
evidence  but  the  Company  itself.  Among  other 
evidence,  there  was  quietly  laid  on  the  table  the 
journals  of  one  Joseph  La  France,  a  French  wood- 
rover  who  had  come  overland  from  Michilimackinac 
to  Hudson  Bay.  This  record  showed  that  France 
was  already  on  the  field  in  the  West.  La  V^rendrye 
and  his  sons  were  on  their  way  to  the  Rockies. 
Three  forts  were  already  built  on  the  Assiniboine. 
Such  evidence  could  have  only  one  influence  on 
Parliament.  If  Parliament  took  away  the  charter 
from  the  Company — declared,  in  fact,  that  the 
charter  was  not  legal — who  would  hold  the  vast  do- 
main against  France?  The  question  of  the  abstract 
right  did  not  come  up  at  all.  Does  it  ever  in 
international  affairs?  The  question  was  one  for 
diplomacy,  and  diplomacy  won.  It  was  better  for 
England  that  the  Adventurers  should  remain  in 
undisturbed  possession  ;  and  the  Company  retained 
its  charter. 

Meanwhile,  that  activity  among  the  French  fur 
traders  stirred  up  the  old  Company  as  all  the  home 
agitation  could  not.  Each  of  the  forts,  Churchill 
farthest  north,  York  on  Hayes  River,  Albany,  and 
Henley  House  up  Albany  River,  Moose  (Rupert  lay 

329 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

dismantled  these  years)  and  Richmond  Fort  on  the 
east  side  of  the  bay,  were  strengthened  by  additions 
to  the  garrisons  of  from  thirty  to  fifty  men.  Each 
of  the  four  frigates  sent  out  by  the  Company  had  a 
crew  of  fifty  men,  among  whom  was  one  young 
sailor,  Samuel  Hearne,  of  whom  more  anon.  Every 
year  took  out  more  cannon  for  the  forts,  more  builders 
for  Churchill,  now  a  stone- walled  fort  strong  as 
Quebec.  Joseph  Isbister,  who  had  been  governor 
at  Albany  and  made  some  inland  voyages  from. 
Churchill,  was  permanently  appointed,  from  1770, 
as  agent  at  Quebec  to  watch  what  rival  fur  traders 
were  doing;  and  when  he  died,  Hugh  Findlay  suc- 
ceeded him.  A  new  house  was  rushed  up  on  Severn 
River  in  1756,  to  attract  those  Indians  of  Manitoba 
where  the  French  were  established.  Lest  other  mer- 
chants should  petition  for  Labrador,  the  Slude  River 
Station  was  moved  to  Richmond  Fort  and  Captain 
Coates  appointed  to  survey  the  whole  east  coast  of 
Hudson  Bay,  for  which  labor  he  was  given  a  present 
of  £d>o.  Poor  Coates!  This  was  in  1750.  Within 
a  year,  he  is  hauled  up  for  illicit  trade  and  dismissed 
ignominiously  from  the  service;  whereat  he  suicides 
from  disgrace.  Eight  years  later,  Richmond  Fort  is 
closed  at  a  loss  of  £20,000,  but  it  has  shut  the 
mouths  of  other  petitioners  for  Labrador: 
Tt  is  in  1757,  too,  that  the  Company  inaugurates 
330 


The  Companifs  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 

its  pension  system — withholding  5  per  cent,  of  wages 
for  a  fund.  As  if  Joseph  La  France's  journal  had 
not  been  alarming  enough,  there  comes  overland 
to  Nelson,  in  1759,  that  Jan  Ba'tiste  Larl^e,  a  spy 
whom  the  English  engage  and  vote  a  wig  {£1  5s) 
"/o  keep  him  loyal  y 

At  Henley  House  up  Albany  River,  pushing  trade 
to  attract  the  Indians  away  from  the  French,  is  that 
Andrew  Graham,  whose  diary  gives  such  a  picture 
of  the  period.  Richard  Norton  of  Churchill  is  long 
since  dead.  Of  his  half-breed  sons  educated  in  Eng- 
land, William  has  become  a  captain;  Moses,  from 
being  sailor  under  Middleton,  wins  distinction  as 
explorer  of  Chesterfield  Inlet  and  rises  to  become 
governor  at  Churchill.  Among  the  recruits  of  the 
increasing  garrisons  are  names  famous  in  the  West 
— Bannister's  and  Spencer's  and  Flett's.  By  way 
of  encouraging  zeal,  the  Company,  in  1770,  increases 
salaries  for  chief  traders  to  £130  a  year,  for  captains 
to  £12  a  month  with  a  gratuity  of  ;^ioo  if  they  have 
no  wreck.  Each  chief  trader  is  to  have  added  to 
his  salary  three  shillings  for  every  twenty  beaver 
sent  home  from  his  department;  each  captain,  ond 
shilling  sixpence  for  every  twenty  beaver  brought 
safely  to  England.  As  these  bounties  amounted  to 
;£io8  and  j^^So  a  year,  they  more  than  doubled 
salaries.      I  am  sorry  to  say  that  at  this  period, 

331 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

brandy  began  to  be  plied  freely.  French  power 
had  fallen  at  Quebec  in  1759.  French  traders  were 
scattered  through  the  wilds — birds  of  passage,  free 
as  air,  lawless  as  birds,  too,  who  lured  the  Indians 
from  the  English  by  the  use  of  liquor.  If  an  English 
trader  ventured  among  Indians,  who  knew  the  cus- 
toms of  the  French,  and  did  not  proffer  a  keg  of 
watered  brandy,  he  was  apt  to  be  forthwith  douched 
"baptized'^ — the  Indians  called  it. 

But  the  greatest  activity  displayed  by  the  English 
at  this  time  was  inland  from  the  bay.  If  Joseph  La 
France  could  come  overland  from  Lake  Superior, 
English  traders  could  be  sent  inland.  Andrew  Gra- 
ham is  ordered  to  keep  his  men  at  Severn  and  Albany 
moving  up  stream.  One  Isaac  Butt  is  paid  ;,^i4  for 
his  voyaging,  and  in  1756  the  Company  votes  ;^2o  to 
Anthony  Hendry  for  his  remarkable  voyage  from 
York  to  the  Forks  of  the  Saskatchewan — the  first 
Englishman  to  visit  this  now  famous  region.  Hen- 
dry's voyage  merits  a  detailed  account  in  the  next 
chapter. 

#  Notes  to  Chapter  XVII. — The  list  of  governors  at  this  period 
is:  Sir  Bibye  Lake,  1712-1743;  Benjamin  Pitt,  1 743-1 746, 
when  he  died;  Thomas  Knapp,  1 746-1 750;  Sir  Atwell  Lake, 
1750-1760;  Sir  WiUiam  Baker,  1760-1770;  Bibye  Lake,  Jr., 
1770-1782. 

The  controversy  between  the  Company  and  Dobbs  fills  vol- 
umes. Ellis  and  Dobbs  need  not  be  taken  seriously.  They 
were  for  the  time  maniacs  on  the  subject  of  a  passage  that  had 
no  existence  except  in  their  own  fancy.     Robson  is  different. 


Jlic  Company's  Prosperity  Arouses  Opposition 


Having  been  a  builder  at  Churchill,  he  knew  the  ground,  yet  we 
find  him  uttering  such  absurd  charges  as  that  the  Company 
purposely  sent  Governor  Knight  to  his  death  and  were  glad 
"that  the  troublesome  fellow  was  out  of  the  way."  This  is 
both  malicious  and  ignorant,  for  as  Robson  knew,  the  North- 
west Passage  played  a  very  secondary  part  in  Knight's  fatal 
voyage.  T^e  Company  just  as  much  as  Knight  was  infatuated 
with  the  lure  of  gold-dust.  Perhaps,  it  will  some  day  prove  not 
so  foolish  an  infatuation.  Gold  placers  have  been  found  in 
Klondike,  Indian  legend  says  they  also  exist  in  the  ices  of  the 
East. 

The  Parliamentary  Report  for  1749  is  an  excellent  example 
of  investigating  "off  the  beat."  The  only  thing  of  value  in  the 
report  is  Joseph  La  France's  Journal.  It  is  valuable  not  as  a 
voyage — for  this  trip  was  well  tracked  from  the  days  of  Radisson 
and  Iberville — but  as  a  description  of  the  Frencn  posts  on  the 
Saskatchewan,  which  Hendry  visited — Pachegoia  or  Pasquia 
or  the  Pas  and  Bourbon — and  as  helping  to  identify  the  Indians, 
whom  Hendry  met. 

La  Vdrendrye  voyages  are  not  given  here,  because  not  rela- 
tive to  the  subject.  His  life  will  be  found  in  "Pathfinders  of 
the  West." 

The  Canadian  Archives  give  Hendry's  name  as  Hendey.  It 
is  spelt  Hendry  in  the  H.  B.  C.  minutes. 

In  1746  the  warehouse  on  Lime  Street  was  purchased  for 
£SSo.  This  year,  too,  comes  a  letter  to  the  Company  from 
Captain  Lee  of  Virginia,  warning  that  a  French  pirate  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  which  captured  him,  is  on  the  lookout 
for  the  fur  ships. 

Sharpe  was  the  lawyer  who  engineered  the  Parliamentary 
Inquiry  of  1749.  I  find  his  charges  in  the  Minutes  ;£2So  anil 
£soS- 

John  Potts  was  the  trader  of  Richmond,  when  Coates  was 
captain. 

In  1766,  Samuel  Heame's  name  appears  as  on  the  pay  roll 
of  The  Prince  Rupert. 

Whale  fisheries  were  now  flourishing  on  the  bay,  for  which 
each  captain  received  a  bounty  of  25  per  cent,  on  net  proceeds. 

In  1769,  the  Company  issued  as  standard  of  trade  ^  marten. 
I  beaver;  a  fox,  3  beaver:  gray  fox,  4  beaver;  white  fox,  \ 
beaver;    i  otter,  i  beaver. 


333 


CHAPTER  XVin 

I 754-1 755 

THE  MARCH  ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT  BEGINS — THE 
COMPANY  SENDS  A  MAN  TO  THE  BLACKFEET  OF 
THE  SOUTH  SASKATCHEWAN — ^ANTHONY  HENDRY 
IS  THE  FIRST  ENGLISHMAN  TO  PENETRATE  TO 
THE  SASKATCHEWAN — THE  FIRST  ENGLISHMAN 
TO  WINTER  WEST  OF  LAKE  WINNIPEG — HE  MEETS 
THE  SIOUX  AND  THE  BLACKFEET  AND  INVITES 
THEM  TO  THE  BAY 

NOTHING  lends  more  romantic  coloring  to 
the  operations  of  the  fur  traders  on  Hud- 
son Bay  than  the  character  of  the  men 
in  the  service.  They  were  adventurers,  pure  and 
simple,  in  the  best  and  the  worst  sense  of  that  term. 
Peter  Romulus,  the  foreign  surgeon,  rubbed  elbows 
with  Radisson,  the  Frenchman.  A  nephew  of  Sir 
Stephen  Evance — come  out  under  the  plain  name, 
Evans — is  under  the  same  roof  as  a  niece  of  the  same 
governor  of  the  Company,  who  has  come  to  the  bay 
as  the  doweried  wife  of  an  apprentice.  Younger 
sons  of  the  English  gentry  entered  the  service  on  the 
same  level  as  the  Cockney  apprentice.     Rough  Ork- 

334 


The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

ney  fishermen — with  the  thick  burr  of  the  North  in 
their  accent,  the  iron  strength  of  the  North  in  their 
blood,  and  a  periphery  of  Calvinistic  self-righteous- 
ness, which  a  modem  gatling  gun  could  not  shoot 
through — had  as  bedfellows  in  the  fort  barracks  soft- 
voiced  English  youths  from  the  south  counties,  who 
had  been  outlawed  for  smuggling,  or  sent  to  the  bay 
to  expiate  early  dissipations.  And  sometimes  this 
curious  conglomeration  of  human  beings  was  ruled 
in  the  fort — ruled  with  the  absolute  despotism  of  the 
little  king,  of  course — by  a  drunken  half-breed  brute 
like  Governor  Moses  Norton,  whose  one  qualification 
was  that  he  could  pile  up  the  beaver  returns  and  hold 
the  Indians'  friendship  by  being  baser  and  more 
uncivilized  than  they.  The  theme  is  one  for  song  and 
story  as  well  as  for  history. 

Among  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  cast  on  Hudson 
Bay  in  the  seventeen  hundred  and  fifties  was  one 
Anthony  Hendry,  a  boy  from  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He 
had  been  outlawed  for  smuggling  and  sought  escape 
from  punishment  by  service  on  the  bay.  He  came 
as  bookkeeper.  Other  servants  could  scarcely  be 
driven  or  bribed  to  go  inland  with  the  Indians. 
Hendry  asked  permission  to  go  back  to  their  country 
with  the  Assiniboines,  in  1754.  James  Isham  was 
governor  of  York  Fort  at  the  time.  He  was  only  too 
glad  to  give  Hendry  permission. 

335 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Four  hundred  Assiniboines  had  come  in  canoes 
with  their  furs  to  the  fort.  Leather  wigwams  spread 
back  from  the  Hayes  River  like  a  town  of  mush- 
rooms. Canoes  lay  in  hundreds  bottom-up  on  the 
beach,  and  where  the  reddish  blue  of  the  camp- 
fire  curled  up  from  the  sands  filling  the  evening  air 
with  the  pungent  smell  of  burning  bark,  Assiniboine 
voyageurs  could  be  seen  melting  resin  and  tar  to 
gum  the  splits  in  the  birch  canoes.  Hunters  had 
exchanged  their  furs  for  guns  and  ammunition. 
Squaws  had  bartered  their  store  of  pemmican 
(buffalo)  meat  for  gay  gewgaws — red  flannels  and 
prints,  colored  beads,  hand  mirrors  of  tin — ^given  at 
the  wicket  gate  of  the  fort. 

Young  Hendry  joined  the  encampment,  became 
acquainted  with  different  leaders  of  the  brigades,  and 
finally  secured  an  Assiniboine  called  Little  Bear  as 
a  guide  to  the  country  of  the  Great  Unknown  River, 
where  the  French  sent  traders — the  Saskatchewan. 
It  was  the  end  of  June  before  the  Indians  were  ready 
to  break  camp  for  the  homeward  voyage.  By  look- 
ing at  the  map,  it  will  be  seen  that  Nelson  and  Hayes 
rivers  flow  northeast  from  the  same  prairie  region  to 
a  point  at  the  bay  called  Port  Nelson,  or  Fort  York. 
One  could  ascend  to  the  country  of  the  Assiniboines 
by  either  Hayes  River  or  Nelson.  York  Fort  was 
on  Hayes  River.     The  Indians  at  that  time  usually 

336 


*The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

ascended  the  Hayes  River  halfway,  then  crossed 
westward  to  the  Nelson  by  a  chain  of  rivers  and 
lakes  and  portages,  and  advanced  to  the  prairie  by 
a  branch  of  the  Nelson  River  known  as  Katchawan 
to  Playgreen  Lake.  Playgreen  Lake  is  really  a 
northern  arm  of  Lake  Winnipeg.  Instead  of  com- 
ing on  down  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  Assiniboines 
struck  westward  overland  from  Playgreen  Lake  to 
the  Saskatchewan  at  Pasquia,  variously  known  as 
Basquia  and  Pachegoia  and  the  Pas.  By  cutting 
across  westward  from  Playgreen  Lake  to  the  main 
Saskatchewan,  three  detours  were  avoided:  (i)  the 
long  detour  round  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Winni- 
peg; (2)  the  southern  bend  of  Saskatchewan,  where 
it  enters  the  lake;  (3)  the  portage  of  Grand  Rapids 
in  the  Saskatchewan  between  Lake  Winnipeg  and 
Cedar  Lake.  It  is  necessary  to  give  these  some- 
what tedious  details  as  this  route  was  to  become 
the  highway  of  commerce  for  a  hundred  years. 

Up  these  waters  paddled  the  gay  Indian  voyageurs, 
the  foam  rippling  on  the  wake  of  their  bark  canoes 
not  half  so  light  as  the  sparkling  foam  of  laugh  and 
song  and  story  from  the  paddlers.  Over  these  long 
lonely  portages,  silent  but  for  the  wind  through  the 
trees,  or  the  hoot  of  the  owl,  or  flapping  of  a  loon, 
or  a  far  weird  call  of  the  meadow  lark — a  mote  in 
an  ocean  of  sky — the  first  colonists  were  to  trudge, 

337 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest   ■ 

men  and  women  and  children,  who  came  to  the 
West  seeking  that  freedom  and  room  for  the  shoulder- 
swing  of  uncramped  manhood,  which  home  lands 
had  denied.  Plymouth  Rock,  they  call  the  landing 
place  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Every  portage  up 
Hayes  River  was  a  Plymouth  Rock  to  these  first 
colonists  of  the  West. 

On  June  26,  then,  1754,  Hendry  set  out  with  the 
Assiniboines  for  the  voyage  up  Hayes  River.  At 
Amista-Asinee  or  Great  Stone  Rock  they  camped 
for  the  first  night,  twenty-four  miles  from  York — 
good  progress  considering  it  was  against  stream  at 
the  full  flood  of  summer  rains.  Fire  Steel  River, 
Wood  Partridge  River,  Pine  Reach — marked  the 
camps  for  sixty  miles  from  York.  Four  Falls  com- 
pelled portage  beyond  Pine  Reach,  and  shoal  water 
for  another  twenty-five  miles  set  the  men  tracking, 
the  crews  jumping  out  to  wade  and  draw  the  light- 
ened canoes  up  stream. 

July  I,  Hendry  was  one  hundred  and  thirteen 
miles  from  York.  Terrific  rains,  hot  and  thundery, 
deluged  the  whole  flotilla,  and  Hendry  learned  for 
the  first  time  what  clouds  of  huge  inland  mos- 
quitoes can  do.  Mosquito  Point,  he  called  the  camp. 
Here,  the  Hayes  broke  into  three  or  four  branches. 
Hendry's  brigade  of  Assiniboines  began  to  work  up 
one   of   the   northwestward    branches   toward   the 

338 


The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

Nelson.  The  land  seemed  to  be  barren  rock.  At 
camping  places  was  neither  fish  nor  fowl.  The 
voyageurs  took  a  reef  in  their  belts  and  pressed  on. 
Three  beaver  afforded  some  food  on  Steel  River  but 
"we  are  greatly  fatigued,"  records  Hendry,  "with 
carrying  and  hauling  our  canoes,  and  we  are  not  well 
fed ;  but  the  natives  are  continually  smoking,  which 
I  find  allays  hunger."  Pikes  and  ducks  replenished 
the  provision  bags  on  Duck  Lake  beyond  Steel  River. 
Twenty  canoes  of  Inland  Indians  were  met  at  Shad 
Falls  beyond  Cree  Lake,  on  their  way  to  York.  With 
these  Hendry  sent  a  letter  to  Governor  Isham.  It 
was  July  20  before  Hendry  realized  that  the  laby- 
rinth of  willow  swamps  had  led  into  Nelson  River. 
It  must  have  been  high  up  Nelson  River,  in  some  of 
its  western  sources  east  of  Playgreen  Lake,  for  one 
day  later,  on  Sunday  the  21st,  he  records:  "We  pad- 
dled two  miles  up  the  Nelson  and  then  came  to 
Keiskatchewan  River,  on  which  the  French  have  two 
houses  which  we  expect  to  see  to-morrow."  He  was 
now  exactly  five  hundred  miles  from  York.  "The 
mosquitoes  are  intolerable,  giving  us  peace  neither 
day  nor  night.  We  paddled  fourteen  miles  up  the 
Keiskatchewan  west,  when  we  came  to  a  French 
house.  On  our  arrival,  two  Frenchmen  came  to  the 
waterside  and  in  a  very  genteel  manner  invited  me 
into  their  house,  which  I  readily  accepted.    One 

339 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

asked  if  I  had  any  letter  from  my  master  and  why  I 
was  going  inland.  I  answered  I  had  no  letter  and 
was  out  to  view  the  country;  that  I  meant  to  return 
this  way  in  spring.  He  told  me  his  master  and  men 
were  gone  down  to  Montreal  with  the  furs,  and  that 
they  must  detain  me  until  his  return.  However, 
they  were  very  kind,  and  at  night  I  went  to  my  tent 
and  told  Little  Bear  my  leader.  He  only  smiled  and 
said:  "They  dare  not  detain  you."  Hendry  was  at 
the  Pas  on  the  Saskatchewan.  If  he  had  come  up 
the  Saskatchewan  from  Lake  Winnipeg,'  he  would 
have  found  that  the  French  had  another  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river — Bourbon. 

From  now  on,  he  describes  the  region  which  he 
crossed  as  ISIosquito  Plains.  White  men  alone  in  the 
wilderness  become  friends  quickly.  In  spite  of 
rivalry,  the  English  trader  presented  the  French  with 
tobacco ;  the  French  in  turn  gave  him  pemmican  of 
moose  meat.  On  Wednesday,  July  24,  he  left  the 
fort.  Sixteen  miles  up  the  Saskatchewan,  Hendry 
passed  Peotago  River,  heavily  timbered  with  birch 
trees.  Up  this  region  the  canoes  of  the  four  hundred 
Assiniboines  ascended  southward,  toward  the  western 
corner  of  the  modern  province  of  Manitoba.  As  the 
river  became  shoal,  canoes  were  abandoned  seventy 
miles  south  of  the  Saskatchewan.  Packs  strapped  on 
backs,  the  Indians  starving  for  food,  a  dreary  march 

340 


The  March  Acr(hs,s  ihe  Continent  Begins 

began  across  country  southwest  over  the  Mosquito 
Plains.  "Neither  bird  nor  beast  is  to  be  seen.  We 
have  nothing  to  eat,"  records  Hendry  after  a  twenty- 
six  miles  tramp.  At  last,  seventy  miles  from  where 
they  had  left  the  canoes,  one  hundred  and  forty 
from  the  Saskatchewan,  they  came  on  a  huge  patch 
of  ripe  raspberries  and  wild  cherries,  and  luckily  in 
the  brushwood  killed  two  moose.  This  relieved  the 
famine.  Wandering  Assiniboines  chanced  to  be  en- 
camped here.  Hendry  held  solemn  conference  with 
the  leaders,  whiffed  pipes  to  the  four  comers  of  the 
universe — by  which  the  deities  of  North,  South,  East 
and  West  were  called  to  witness  the  sincerity  of  the 
sentiments — and  invited  these  tribes  down  to  York; 
but  they  only  answered,  "we  are  already  supplied  by 
the  French  at  Pasquia." 

One  hundred  miles  south  of  Pas — or  just  where 
the  Canadian  Northern  Railroad  strikes  west  from 
Manitoba  across  Saskatchewan — a  delightful  change 
came  over  the  face  of  the  country.  Instead  of 
brackish  swamp  water  or  salt  sloughs,  were  clear- 
water  lakes.  Red  deer — called  by  the  Assiniboines 
waskesaw — were  in  myriads.  "I  am  now,"  writes 
Hendry  as  he  entered  what  is  now  the  Province  of 
Saskatchewan,  "entering  a  most  pleasant  and  plenti- 
ful country  of  hills  and  dales  with  little  woods," 

Many  Indians  were  met,  but  all  were  strong 
341 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

partisans  of  the  French.  An  average  of  ten  miles  a 
day  was  made  by  the  marchers,  hunting  red  deer 
as  they  tramped.  On  August  8,  somewhere  near 
what  is  now  Red  Deer  River,  along  the  line  of  the 
Canada  Northern,  pause  was  made  for  a  festival  of 
rejoicing  on  safe  return  from  the  long  voyage  and 
relief  from  famine.  For  a  day  and  a  night,  all  hands 
feasted  and  smoked  and  danced  and  drank  and  con- 
jured in  gladness;  the  smoking  of  the  pipe  corre- 
sponding to  our  modern  grace  before  meals,  the 
dancing  a  way  of  evincing  thanks  in  rhythmic  motion 
instead  of  music,  the  drinking  and  conjuring  not  so 
far  different  from  our  ancestors'  way  of  giving  thanks. 
The  lakes  were  becoming  alkali  swamps,  and  camp 
had  to  be  made  where  thgre  was  fresh  water.  Some- 
times the  day's  march  did  not  average  four  miles. 
Again,  there  would  be  a  forced  march  of  fifteen.  For 
the  first  time,  an  English  fur  trader  saw  Indians  on 
horseback.  Where  did  they  get  the  horses?  As  we 
now  know,  the  horses  came  from  the  Spaniards,  but 
we  must  not  wonder  that  when  Hendry  reported 
having  seen  whole  tribes  on  horseback,  he  was 
laughed  out  of  the  service  as  a  romancer,  and  the 
whole  report  of  his  trip  discredited.  The  Indians' 
object  was  to  reach  the  buffalo  grounds  and  lay  up 
store  of  meat  for  the  winter.  They  told  Hendry  he 
would  presently  see  whole  tribes  of  Indians  on  horse- 

342 


The  March  Across  the  Continoit  Begins 

back — ^Archithinues,  the  famous  Blackfoot  Con- 
federacy of  Bloods,  Blackfeet,  Picgans  and  Sarcees. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  they  were  among  the 
buffalo,  where  to-day  the  great  grooves  and  ruts  left 
by  the  marchmg  herds  can  still  be  seen  between  the 
Saskatchewan  and  the  Assiniboine  Rivers  toward 
Qu'  Appelle.  For  the  most  part,  the  Indians  hunted 
the  buffalo  with  bow  and  arrow,  and  at  night  there 
was  often  a  casualty  list  like  the  wounded  after  a 
battle.  ^^  Sunday — dressed  a  lame  vmii's  leg  and  he 
gave  me  jot  my  trouble  a  moose  nose,  which  is  con- 
sidered a  great  delicacy  among  the  Indians^  *'/ 
killed  a  hull  biiffalo"  he  writes  on  September  8, 
*^he  was  nothing  but  skin  and  bones.  I  took  out  his 
tongue  and  left  his  remains  to  the  wolves,  which  were 
waiting  around  in  great  numbers.  We  cannot  ajjord 
to  expend  ammunition  on  them.  My  jeet  are  swelled 
with  marching,  but  otherwise  I  am  in  perfect  health. 
So  expert  are  the  natives  buffalo  hunting,  they  will 
take  an  arrow  out  of  the  buffalo  when  the  beasts  are 
foaming  and  raging  and  tearing  the  ground  up  with 
their  feet  and  horns.  The  buffalo  are  so  numerous, 
like  herds  of  English  cattle  that  we  are  obliged  to 
make  them  sheer  out  of  our  way." 

Sometimes  more  dangerous  game  than  buffalo  was 
encountered.  On  Scptcmlx?r  17,  Hendry  writes: 
*^Two  young  men  were  miserably  wounded  by  a 

343 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

grizzly  bear  that  they  were  hunting  to-day.  One  may 
recover  hut  the  other  never  can.  His  arm  is  torn  from 
his  body,  one  eye  gouged  out  and  his  stomach  ripped 
open."    The  next  day  the  Indian  died. 

The  Assiniboines  were  marching  southwest  from 
the  Pas  toward  the  land  of  the  Blackfeet.  They 
were  now  three  hundred  miles  southwest  of  the 
French  House.  To  Hendry's  surprise  they  came 
to  a  large  river  with  high  banks  that  looked  exactly 
like  the  Saskatchewan.  It  was  the  South  Branch 
of  the  Saskatchewan,  where  it  takes  the  great  bend 
south  of  Prince  Albert.  Canoes  had  been  left  far 
behind.  What  were  the  four  hundred  Assiniboines 
to  do?  But  the  Indians  solved  the  difficulty  in  less 
than  half  a  day.  Making  boats  of  willow  branches 
and  moose  parchment  skin — like  the  bull-boats  of 
the  Missouri — the  Assiniboines  rafted  safely  across. 
The  march  now  turned  west  toward  the  Eagle  River 
and  Eagle  Hills  and  North  Saskatchewan.  The 
Eagle  Indians  are  met  and  persuaded  to  bring  their 
furs  to  York  Fort. 

As  winter  approached,  the  women  began  dressing 
the  skins  for  moccasins  and  clothes.  A  fire  of  punk 
in  an  earth-hole  smoked  the  skins.  Beating  and 
pounding  and  stretching  pelts,  the  squaws  then 
softened  the  skin.  For  winter  wear,  moccasins  were 
left  with  the  fur  inside.     Hendry  remarks  how  in 

344 


TJie  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

the  fall  of  the  year,  the  women  sat  in  the  doors  of 
their  wigwams  "knitting  moose  leather  into  snow 
shoes"  made  of  seasoned  wood.  It  was  October 
before  the  Indians  of  the  far  Western  plains  were 
met.  These  were  the  famous  Blackfcet  for  the  first 
time  now  seen  by  an  English  trader.  They  ap- 
proached the  Assiniboines  mounted  and  armed  with 
bows  and  spears.  Hendry  gave  them  presents  to 
carry  to  their  chief.  Hendry  notes  the  signs  of 
mines  along  the  banks  of  the  Saskatchewan.  He 
thought  the  mineral  iron.  What  he  saw  was  prob- 
ably an  outcropping  of  coal.  The  jumping  deer  he 
describes  as  a  new  kind  of  goat.  As  soon  as  ice 
formed  on  the  swamps,  the  hunters  began  trenching 
for  beaver — which  were  plentiful  beyond  the  fur 
trader's  hopes.  When,  on  October  the  nth,  the 
marchers  for  the  third  time  came  on  the  Saskatche- 
wan, which  the  Indians  called  Waskesaw,  Hendry 
recognized  that  all  the  branches  were  forks  of  one 
and  the  same  great  river — the  Saskatchewan,  or  as 
the  French  called  it,  Christinaux.  The  Indian  names 
for  the  two  branches  were  Keskatchew  and  Waske- 
saw. 

For  several  days  the  far  smoke  of  an  encampment 
had  been  visible  southwest.  On  October  the  14th, 
four  riders  came  out  to  conduct  Hendry  to  an  en- 
campment of  three  hundred  and  twenty-two  tents 

345 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

of  Blackfeet  Indians  '^pitched  in  two  rows  with  an 
opening  in  the  middle,  where  we  were  conducted  to 
the  leaders  tent.^^  This  was  the  main  tribe  of  which 
Hendry  had  already  met  the  outrunners.  "The 
leadefs  tent  was  large  enough  to  contain  fifty  persons. 
He  received  us  seated  on  a  buffalo  skin  attended  by 
twenty  elderly  men.  He  made  signs  for  me  to  sit 
down  on  his  right  hand,  which  I  did.  Our  leaders 
{the  Assiniboines)  set  several  great  pipes  going  the 
rounds  and  we  smoked  according  to  their  custom. 
Not  one  word  was  spoken.  Smoking  over,  boiled 
buffalo  flesh  was  served  r.i  baskets  of  bent  wood.  I 
was  presented  with  ten  buffalo  tongues.  My  guide 
informed  the  leader  I  was  sent  by  the  grand  leader 
who  lives  on  the  Great  Waters  to 'invite  his  young 
men  down  with  their  furs.  They  would  receive  in 
return,  powder,  shot,  guns  and  cloth.  He  made  little 
answer:  said  it  was  far  off  and  his  people  could  not 
paddle.  We  were  then  ordered  to  depart  to  our  tents 
which  we  pitched  a  quarter  of  a  mile  outside  their 
lines."  Again  invited  to  the  leader's  tent  the  next 
morning,  Hendry  heard  some  remarkable  philosophy 
from  the  Indian.  "  The  chief  told  me  his  tribe  never 
wanted  food  as  they  followed  the  buffalo,  but  he  was 
informed  the  natives  who  frequented  the  settlements 
often  starved  on  their  journey,  which  was  exceedingly 
true,"  added  Hendry.    Reciprocal  presents  closed 

346 


The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

the  interview.  The  present  to  the  Assiniboine  chief 
was  a  couple  of  girl  slaves,  one  of  whom  was  mur- 
dered at  York  ten  years  afterward  by  an  Indian  in  a 
fit  of  jealousy. 

Later,  Hendry  learned  that  the  Assiniboines  did 
not  want  these  Blackfeet  of  the  far  West  to  come 
down  to  the  bay.  Neither  would  the  Assiniboines 
hunt  except  for  food.  Putting  the  two  facts  to- 
gether, Hendry  rightly  judged  that  the  Assiniboines 
acted  as  middlemen  between  the  traders  and  the 
Blackfeet. 

By  the  end  of  October,  Hendry  had  left  the  plains 
and  was  in  a  rolling  wooded  land  northwest  of  the 
North  Saskatchewan.  Here,  with  occasional  moves 
as  the  hunting  shifted,  the  Indians  wintered;  his 
journal  says,  "eight  hundred  and  ten  miles  west  of 
York,"  moving  back  and  forward  north  and  south  of 
the  river ;  but  a  comment  added  by  Andrew  Graham 
on  the  margin  of  the  journal,  says  he  was  in  latitude 
59°.  This  is  plainly  a  mistake,  as  latitude  59°  is  six 
degrees  away  from  the  Saskatchewan;  but  eight 
hundred  and  ten  miles  from  York  along  the  Sas- 
katchewan would  bring  Hendry  in  the  region  be- 
tween the  modern  Edmonton  and  Battleford.  It  is 
to  Hendry's  credit  that  he  remained  on  good  terms 
with  the  Assiniboines.  If  he  had  been  a  weakling, 
he  would  easily  have  become  the  butt  of  the  children 

347 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

who  infested  the  tents  like  imps;  but  he  hunted  with 
the  hunters,  trapped  with  the  trappers,  and  could 
outmarch  the  best  of  them.  Consequently,  there  is 
not  a  note  in  his  journal  of  that  doleful  whine  which 
comes  from  the  weakling  run  amuck  of  hard  life  in 
a  savage  land. 

WTien  he  met  Indians  hunting  for  the  French 
forts,  with  true  trader  instinct  he  bribed  them  with 
gifts  to  bring  their  furs  down  to  Hudson  Bay.  Almost 
the  entire  winter,  camp  moved  from  bend  to  bend  or 
branch  to  branch  of  the  North  Saskatchewan,  head- 
ing gradually  eastward.  Toward  spring,  different 
tribes  joined  the  Assiniboines  to  go  down  to  York. 
Among  these  were  "green  scalps"  and  many  women 
captives  from  those  Blackfeet  Indians  Hendry  had 
met.  Each  night  the  scalps  hung  like  flags  from  the 
tent  poles.  The  captives  were  given  around  camp 
as  presents.  One  hears  much  twaddle  of  the  red 
man's  noble  state  before  he  was  contaminated  by 
the  white  man.  Hendry  saw  these  tribes  of  the  Far 
West  before  they  had  met  any  white  men  but  him- 
self, and  the  disposal  of  those  captives  is  a  criterion 
of  the  red  man's  noble  state.  Whenever  one  was 
not  wanted — the  present  of  a  girl,  for  instance,  re- 
sented by  a  warrior's  jealous  wives — she  was  sum- 
marily hacked  to  pieces,  and  not  a  passing  thought 
given  to  the  matter.     The  killing  of  a  dog  or  a  beaver 

348 


The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

caused  more  comment.  On  the  value  of  life  as  a 
thing  of  worth  in  itself,  the  Indian  had  absolutely 
no  conception,  not  so  much  conception  as  a  domestic 
dog  trained  not  to  destroy  life. 

By  spring,  Hendry's  camp  had  dwindled  down  to 
a  party  of  twelve.  He  now  had  only  two  pounds  of 
powder  in  his  possession,  but  his  party  were  rich  in 
furs.  As  the  time  approached  to  build  canoes,  the 
Assiniboines  began  gathering  at  the  river  banks. 
Young  men  searched  the  woods  for  bark.  Old  men 
whittled  out  the  gun'els.  Women  pounded  pemmican 
into  bags  for  the  long  voyage  to  the  bay.  The  nights 
jiassed  in  riotous  feast  and  revel,  with  the  tom-tom 
pounding,  the  conjurers  performing  tricks,  the 
hunters  dancing,  the  women  peeping  shyly  into  the 
dance  tent.  At  such  times,  one  may  guess,  Hendry 
did  not  spare  of  his  scant  supplies  to  lure  the  Indians 
to  York  Fort,  but  he  did  not  count  on  the  effects  of 
French  brandy  when  the  canoes  would  pass  the 
French  posts. 

Ice  was  driving  in  the  river  like  a  mill  race  all 
the  month  of  April.  Swans  and  geese  and  pigeons 
and  bluejays  came  winging  north.  There  was  that 
sudden  and  wondrous  leap  to  life  of  a  dormant 
world — and  lol — it  was  summer,  with  the  ducks  on 
the  river  in  flocks,  and  the  long  prairie  grass  waving 
like  a  green  sea,  and  the  trees  bleak  and  bare  against 

349 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  vaporous  sky  now  clothing  themselves  in  foliage 
as  in  a  bridal  veil  shot  with  sunlight. 

The  great  dog  feast  was  solemnly  held.  The  old 
men  conjured  the  powers  of  the  air  to  bless  them 
a  God-speed.  Canoes  were  launched  on  April  28, 
and  out  swung  the  Assiniboines'  brigade  for  Fort 
York.  It  was  easier  going  down  stream  than  up. 
Thirty  and  forty  miles  a  day  they  made,  passing 
multitudes  of  Indians  still  building  their  canoes  on 
the  river  banks.  At  every  camp,  more  fur-laden 
canoes  joined  them.  Hendry's  heart  must  have 
been  very  happy.  He  was  bringing  wealth  untold 
to  York. 

Four  hundred  miles  down  stream,  the  Blackfeet 
Indians  were  met  and  with  great  pow-wow  of  trading 
turned  their  furs  over  to  the  crafty  Assiniboines  to 
be  taken  down  to  York.  There  were  now  sixty 
canoes  in  the  flotilla  and  says  Hendry  "not  a  pot 
or  kettle  among  us."  Everything  had  been  bartered 
to  the  Blackfeet  for  furs.  Six  hundred  miles  from 
their  launching  place,  they  came  to  the  first  French 
post.  This  distance  given  by  Hendry  is  another  pretty 
effective  proof  that  he  had  wintered  near  Edmonton, 
if  not  beyond  it,  for  this  post  was  not  the  Pas.  It 
was  subordinate  to  Basquia  or  Pasquia. 

Hendry  was  invited  into  the  French  post  as  the 
guest  of  the  master.    If  he  had  been  as  crafty  as  he 

350 


The  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

was  brave,  he  would  have  hurried  his  Indians  past 
the  rival  post,  but  he  had  to  live  and  learn.  While 
he  was  having  supper,  the  French  distributed  ten 
gallons  of  brandy  among  the  Assiniboines.  By 
morning,  the  French  had  obtained  the  pick  of  the 
furs,  one  thousand  of  the  best  pelts,  and  it  was  three 
days  before  the  amazed  Hendry  could  coax  the 
Indians  away  from  his  polite  hosts.  Two  hundred 
miles  more,  brought  the  brigade  to  the  main  French 
post — the  Pas.  Nine  Frenchmen  were  in  possession, 
and  the  trick  was  repeated.  "The  Indians  are  all 
drunk,"  deplores  Hendry,  "but  the  master  was  very 
kind  to  me.  He  is  dressed  very  genteel  but  his  men 
wear  nothing  but  drawers  and  striped  cotton  shirts 
ruffled  at  the  hand  and  breast.  This  house  has 
been  long  a  place  of  trade  and  is  named  Basquia.  It 
is  twenty-six  feet  long,  twelve  wide,  nine  high, 
having  a  sloping  roof,  the  walls  log  on  log,  the  top 
covered  with  willows,  and  divided  into  three  rooms, 
one  for  trade,  one  for  storing  furs,  and  one  for  a 
dwelling." 

Four  days  passed  before  the  Indians  had  sobered 
sufficiently  to  go  on,  and  they  now  had  only  the  heavy 
furs  that  the  French  would  not  take.  On  June  i, 
the  brigade  again  set  out  for  York.  Canoes  were 
lighter  now.  Seventy  miles  a  day  was  made.  Hen- 
dry does  not  give  any  distances  on  his  return  voyage, 

351 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

but  he  followed  the  same  course  by  which  he  had 
come,  through  Deer  Lake  and  Steel  River  to  Hayes 
River  and  York,  where  all  arrived  on  the  20th  of 
June. 

To  Hendry's  profound  disgust,  he  was  not  again 
permitted  to  go  inland.  In  fact,  discredit  was  cast 
on  his  report.  "Indians  on  horseback!"  The  fac- 
tors of  the  bay  ridiculed  the  idea.  They  had  never 
heard  of  such  a  thing.  All  the  Indians  they  knew 
came  to  the  fort  in  canoes.  Indeed,  it  was  that 
spirit  of  little-minded  narrowness  that  more  than 
anything  else  lost  to  the  Company  the  magnificent 
domain  of  its  charter.  If  the  men  governing  the 
Company  had  realized  the  empire  of  their  ruling  as 
fully  as  did  the  humble  servants  fighting  the  battles 
on  the  field,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  might  have 
ruled  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific  in  the  North,  and  in 
the  West  as  far  south  as  Mexico.  But  they  objected 
to  being  told  what  they  did  not  know.  Hendry  was 
"frozen"  out  of  the  service.  The  occasion  of  his 
leaving  was  even  more  contemptible  than  the  real 
cause.  On  one  of  his  trading  journeys,  he  was 
offered  very  badly  mixed  brandies,  probably  drugged. 
Being  a  fairly  good  judge  of  brandies  from  his 
smuggling  days,  Hendry  refused  to  take  what  Andrew 
Graham  calls  "such  slops  from  such  gentry."  He 
quit  the  service  in  disgust. 

352 


Tlic  March  Across  the  Continent  Begins 

The  Company,  as  the  minutes  show,  voted  him 
£20  gratuity  for  his  voyage.  Why,  then,  did  the 
factors  cast  ridicule  on  his  report?  Supposing  they 
had  accepted  it,  what  would  have  been  entailed? 
They  must  capture  the  furs  of  that  vast  inland  coun- 
try for  their  Company.  To  do  that,  there  must  be 
forts  built  inland.  Some  factor  would  be  ordered 
inland.  Then,  there  would  be  the  dangers  of  French 
competition — very  real  danger  in  the  light  of  that 
brandy  incident.  The  factors  on  the  bay — Norton 
and  Isham — were  not  brave  enough  men  to  under- 
take such  a  campaign.  It  was  easier  sitting  snugly 
inside  the  forts  with  a  multitude  of  slave  Indians 
to  wait  on  their  least  want.  So  the  trade  of  the 
interior  was  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 

Notes  on  Chaffer  XVIII. — Hendry's  Journal  is  in  Hudson's 
Bay  Company's  House,  London.  A  copy  is  also  in  the  Canadian 
Archives.  Andrew  Graham  of  Severn  has  written  various  notes 
along  the  margin.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Graham,  it  looks  much 
as  if  Hendry's  Journal  would  have  been  lost  to  the  Company. 
Hendry  gives  the  distances  of  each  day's  travel  so  minutely, 
that  his  course  can  easily  be  followed  first  to  Basquia,  then  from 
Basquia  to  the  North  Saskatchewan  region.  Graham's  com- 
ment that  Hendry  was  at  59°  north  is  simply  a  slip.  It  is  out 
of  the  question  to  accept  it  for  the  simple  reason  Hendry  could 
not  have  gone  eight  hundred  and  ten  miles  southtvcst  from  York, 
as  his  journal  daily  records,  and  have  been  within  6°  of  59*. 
Besides  his  own  discovery  that  he  had  been  crossing  branches 
of  the  Saskatchewan  all  the  time  and  his  account  of  his  voyage 
down  the  Saskatchewan  to  the  Pas,  are  unmistakable  proofs 
of  his  wherealx)uts.  Also  he  mentions  the  Eagle  Indians  re- 
peatedly. These  Indians  dwelt  between  the  north  and  south 
branches  of^he  Saskatchewan.  Whether  the  other  rivers  that 
he  crossed  were  the  Assiniboine  or  the  Qu'Appelle  or  the  Red 
Deer  of  Lake  Winnipcgosis — I  do  not  know, 

353 


The  Conquest  oj  the  Great  Northwest 


I  had  great  trouble  in  identifying  the  Archithinue  Indians 
of  Hendry's  Journal  till  I  came  on  Matthew  Cooking's  Journal 
over  the  same  ground.  Dec.  i,  1772,  Cocking  says:  "This 
tribe  is  named  Powestic  Athinuewuck,  Waterfall  Indians.  There 
are  four  tribes  or  nations  which  are  all  Equestrian  Indians,  viz: 

(i)  Mithco  Athinuwuck,  or  Bloody  Indians. 

(2)  Koskiton  TVathcsitock,  or  Black  Footed  Indians. 

(3)  Pegonow,  or  Muddy   Water  Indians. 

(4)  Sassewuck,  or  Woody  Country  Indians. 


354 


CHAPTER  XIX 
I 770-1800 

EXTENSION  OF  TRADE  TOWARD  LABRADOR,  QUEBEC 
AND  ROCKIES — HEAKNE  FINDS  THE  ATHABASCA 
COUNTRY  AND  FOUNDS  CUMBERLAND  HOUSE  ON 
THE  SASKATCHEWAN — COCKING  PROCEEDS  TO 
THE  BLACKFEET — ^HOWSE  FINDS  THE  PASS  IN 
ROCKIES 

WHILE  Anthony  Hendry,  the  English 
smuggler,  was  making  his  way  up  the 
Saskatchewan  to  the  land  of  the  Blackfeet 
— the  present  province  of  Alberta — the  English  Ad- 
venturers were  busy  making  good  their  claim  to  Lab- 
rador. Except  as  a  summer  rendezvous,  Rupert,  the 
oldest  of  the  Company's  forts,  at  the  southeast  comer 
of  the  bay — had  been  abandoned,  but  far  up  the 
coast  of  Labrador  on  the  wildest  part  of  this  desolate 
shore,  was  that  fort  which  the  Company  was  shortly 
forced  to  dismantle  at  great  loss — Richmond.  When 
Captain  Coates  was  sent  to  cruise  the  east  coast  of 
Hudson  Bay,  thirty  men  under  John  Potts  and  Mr. 
Pollexfen,  had  been  left  on  Richmond  Gulf  to  build 
a  fort.  There  was  no  more  dangerous  region  on  the 
bay.    It  was  here  Hudson's  crew  had  been  attacked 

355 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

by  the  Eskimos,  and  here  the  Eskimos  yearly  came 
to  winter  and  hunt  the  white  whale.  Between  the 
rugged  main  shore  and  the  outer  line  of  barren 
islands  was  usually  open  water.  Camped  on  the 
rocky  islets,  the  timid  Eskimos  were  secure  from 
Indian  foe,  and  if  the  white  whale  fisheries  failed, 
they  had  only  to  scud  across  the  open  water  or  por- 
tage over  the  ice  to  the  mainland  and  hunt  partridge 
on  Richmond  Gulf.  From  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  three  hundred  Eskimos  yearly  wintered  within 
trading  distance  of  Richmond. 

Quickly,  storehouses,  barracks,  wareroom  and 
guardroom  were  erected  just  inside  the  narrow  en- 
trance from  Hudson  Bay  to  Richmond  Gulf,  and 
round  all  thrown  a  ten-foot  palisade.  This  was  in 
1749.  Coates  had  been  attracted  to  Richmond  Gulf 
— which  he  calls  Artiwinipack — by  its  land-locked, 
sheltered  position  and  the  magnificent  supply  of 
lumber  for  building.  The  Eskimo  whale  fisheries 
were  farther  south  at  Whale  River  and  East  Main, 
with  winter  lodges  subordinate  to  Richmond.  The 
partridges  of  the  wooded  slopes  promised  abundance 
of  food,  and  there  was  excellent  fox  and  beaver 
trapping.  Compared  to  the  other  rocky  barrens  of 
northern  Labrador,  Richmond  Harbor  seemed  Para- 
dise, ''but  oh,  my  conscience,^^  wrote  Captain  Coates, 
^' there  is  so  profound  silence,  such  awful  precipices, 

356 


Extension  of  Trade   Toward  Labrador 

no  lije,  that  the  vjorld  seems  asleep.  The  land  is  so 
tremendous  high  that  wind  and  water  reverberate 
between  the  cliffs  entering  two  miles  to  our  gulf. 
Inside  are  mountains,  groves,  cascades  and  vales 
adorned  with  trees.  On  the  Hudson  Bay  side  nothing 
is  seen  but  barren  rocks.  Inside,  all  is  green  with 
stately  woods.  .  .  .  On  the  high  mountains  is 
only  snow  moss;  lower,  a  sort  oj  rye  grass,  some  snow 
drops  and  violets  without  odor,  then  rows  oj  ever- 
greens down  to  the  very  sea.  On  the  right  oj  the  gulj 
is  Lady  Lakers  Grove  under  a  stupendous  mountain, 
whence  jails  a  cascade  through  the  grove  to  the  sea. 
In  short,  such  is  the  elegant  situation  oj  Richmond 
Fort  that  it  is  not  to  be  paralleled  in  the  world." 

Such  were  the  high  hopes  with  which  Richmond 
Fort  was  founded.  To-day  it  is  a  howling  wilder- 
ness silent  as  death  but  for  the  rush  of  waters  heard 
when  white  men  first  entered  the  bay.  Partridge 
there  were  in  plenty  among  the  lonely  evergreens, 
and  game  for  trapping;  but  not  the  warmest  over- 
tures of  Chief  Factor  Potts  and  Mr.  Pollexfen  and 
Mr.  Isbister,  who  yearly  came  up  from  Albany, 
could  win  the  friendship  of  the  treacherous  Eskimos. 
They  would  not  hunt,  and  the  white  men  dare  not 
penetrate  far  enough  inland  to  make  their  trapping 
pay.  Potts  kept  his  men  whale  fishing  off  Whale 
River,  but  in  five  years  the  loss  to  the  Company  had 

357 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

totaled  more  than  ;;^24,ooo.  The  crisis  came  in 
1754.  Day  and  night,  the  stealthy  shadow  of  Eskimo 
spies  moved  through  the  evergreens  of  the  gulf.  In 
vain  Potts  gave  the  chiefs  presents  of  gold-laced  suits, 
beaver  hats  with  plumes,  and  swords.  "They 
shaked  my  hands,"  he  records,  "and  hugged  and 
embraced  and  smiled";  but  the  very  next  trapper, 
who  went  alone  to  the  woods,  or  attempted  to  drive 
his  dog  train  south  to  Whale  River,  would  see  Eskimos 
ambushed  behind  rocks  and  have  his  cache  rifled 
or  find  himself  overpowered  and  plundered.  One 
day  in  February,  Mr.  Pollexfen  had  gone  out  with 
his  men  from  Whale  River  trapping.  When  they 
returned  in  the  afternoon  they  found  the  cook  boy 
had  been  kidnapped  and  the  house  robbed  of  every 
object  that  could  be  carried  away — stores  of  ammu- 
nition, arms,  traps,  food,  clothes,  even  the  door 
hinges  and  iron  nails  of  the  structure. 

Waiting  only  till  it  was  dark,  the  terrified  hunters 
hitched  their  dog  sleighs  up,  tore  off  all  bells  that 
would  betray  flight,  and  drove  like  mad  for  the 
stronger  fort  of  Richmond.  Potts  hurriedly  sent  out 
orders  to  recall  his  trappers  from  the  hills  and 
manned  Richmond  for  siege.  It  was  four  days  be- 
fore all  the  men  came  under  shelter,  and  nightly  the 
Eskimos  could  be  heard  trying  to  scale  the  palisades. 
The  fort  was  so  short  of  provisions,  all  hands  were 

358 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

reduced  to  one  meal  a  day.  Potts  called  for  volun- 
teers, to  go  to  the  rescue  of  the  kidnapped  cook — a 
boy,  named  Matthew  Warden;  and  thirteen  men 
offered  to  go.  The  Eskimos  had  taken  refuge  on  the 
islands  of  the  outer  shore.  Frost-fog  thick  as  wool 
lay  on  the  bay.  Eskimos  were  seen  lurking  on  the 
hills  above  the  fort.  A  council  was  held.  It  was 
determined  to  catch  three  Eskimos  as  hostages  for 
the  cook's  safety  rather  than  risk  the  lives  of  thirteen 
men  outside  the  fort.  Some  ten  days  later,  when  a 
few  men  ventured  out  for  partridges,  the  forest 
again  came  to  life  with  Eskimo  spies.  Potts  recalled 
his  hunters,  sent  two  scouts  to  welcome  the  Eskimos 
to  the  fort  and  placed  all  hands  on  guard.  Three 
Indians  were  conducted  into  the  house.  In  a  twink- 
ling, fetters  were  clapped  on  two,  and  the  third  bade 
go  and  fetch  the  missing  white  boy  on  pain  of  death 
to  the  hostages.  The  stolid  Eskimo  affected  not  to 
understand.  Potts  laid  a  sword  across  the  throats 
of  the  two  prisoners  and  signaled  the  third  to  be 
gone.  The  fellow  needed  no  urging  but  scampered. 
"I  had  our  men,"  relates  Potts,  "one  by  one  pass 
through  the  guardroom  changing  their  dresses  every 
time  to  give  the  two  prisoners  the  idea  that  I  had  a 
large  garrison.  They  seemed  surprised  that  I  had 
one  hundred  men,  but  they  spoke  no  word."  The 
next  day,  the  fettered  prisoners  drew  knives  on  their 

359 


The  Comjuest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

guard,  seized  his  gun  and  clubbed  the  Company 
men  from  the  room.  In  the  scuffle  that  followed, 
both  Eskimos  were  shot.  The  danger  was  now 
increased  a  hundredfold.  Friendly  Montagnais 
Indians,  especially  one  named  Robinson  Crusoe, 
warned  Potts  that  if  the  shooting  were  known, 
nothing  could  save  the  fort.  The  bodies  were 
hidden  in  the  cellar  till  some  Montagnais  went  out 
one  dark  night  and  weighting  the  feet  with  stones, 
pushed  them  through  a  hole  in  the  ice.  How  quickly 
white  men  Can  degenerate  to  savagery  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  conduct  of  the  cooped-up,  starving 
garrison.  Before  sending  away  the  dead  bodies, 
they  cut  the  ears  from  each  and  preserved  them  in 
spirits  of  alcohol  to  send  down  by  Indian  scouts  to 
Isbister  at  Moose  with  a  letter  imploring  that  the 
sloop  come  to  the  rescue  as  soon  as  the  ice  cleared. 
For  two  months  the  siege  lasted.  Nothing  more 
was  ever  heard  of  the  captured  boy,  but  by  the  end 
of  May,  Isbister  had  sent  a  sloop  to  Richmond.  As 
told  elsewhere,  Richmond  was  dismantled  in  1778 
and  the  stores  carried  down  to  Whale  River  and 
East  Main. 

Important  changes  had  gradually  grown  up  in 
the  Adventurer's  methods.  White  servants  were  no 
longer  forbidden  to  circulate  with  the  Indians  but 
encouraged  to  go  out  to  the  hunting  field  and  paid 

360 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

bounties  on  their  trapping.  Three  men  had  been 
sent  out  from  York  in  January,  1772,  to  shoot  par- 
tridges for  the  fort.  It  was  a  mild,  open  winter.  The 
men  carried  provisions  to  last  three  weeks.  Striking 
back  through  the  marsh  land,  that  lies  between  Hayes 
and  Nelson  Rivers,  they  camped  for  the  first  night 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nelson.  The  next  morning, 
Tuesday,  the  7th  of  January,  they  were  crossing  the 
ice  of  the  Nelson's  broad  current  when  they  suddenly 
felt  the  rocking  of  the  tide  beneath  their  feet,  looked 
ahead,  saw  the  frost-smoke  of  open  water  and  to 
their  horror  realized  that  the  tidal  bore  had  loosened 
the  ice  and  they  were  adrift,  bearing  out  to  sea.  In 
vain,  dogs  and  men  dashed  back  for  the  shore.  The 
ice  floe  had  separated  from  the  land  and  was  rushing 
seaward  like  a  race  horse.  That  night  it  snowed. 
The  terrified  men  kept  watch,  hoping  that  the  high 
tide  would  carry  the  ice  back  to  some  of  the  long, 
low  sandbars  at  Port  Nelson.  The  tide  did  sway 
back  the  third  day  but  not  near  enough  for  a  landing. 
This  night,  they  put  up  their  leather  tents  and  slept 
drifting.  When  they  awakened  on  Friday  the  loth, 
they  were  driving  so  direct  for  the  shore  that  the 
three  men  simultaneously  dashed  to  gain  the  land, 
leaving  packs,  provisions,  tent  and  sleighs;  but  in 
vain.  A  tidal  wave  swept  the  floe  off  shore,  and 
when  they  set  back  for  their  camp,  they  were  appalled 

361 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  see  camp  kit,  sleds,  provisions,  all — drive  past 
afloat.  The  ice  floe  had  broken.  They  were  now 
adrift  without  food  or  shelter,  James  Ross  carrying 
gun,  powder  bag  and  blanket  over  his  shoulders  as 
he  had  risen  from  sleep,  Farrant  wearing  only  the 
beaver  coat  in  which  he  had  slept,  Tomson  bereft  of 
either  gun  or  blanket. 

This  time,  the  ebb  carried  them  far  into  the  bay 
where  they  passed  the  fourth  night  adrift.  The 
next  day,  wind  and  the  crumbling  of  the  ice  added  to 
their  terrors.  As  the  floe  went  to  pieces,  they  leaped 
from  float  to  float  trying  to  keep  together  on  the 
largest  icepan.  Farrant  fell  through  the  slush  to  his 
armpits  and  after  being  belted  tightly  in  his  beaver 
coat  lay  down  behind  a  wind-break  of  ice  blocks  to 
die.  Their  only  food  since  losing  the  tent  kit  had 
been  some  lumps  of  sugar  one  of  them  had  chanced  to 
have  in  his  pockets.  During  Saturday  night  the  nth 
of  January,  the  ice  grounded  and  great  seas  began 
sweeping  over  the  floe.  When  Ross  and  Tomson 
would  have  dragged  Farrant  to  a  higher  hummock 
of  the  ice  field,  they  found  that  he  was  dead.  On 
Monday,  the  weather  grew  cold  and  stormy.  Tom- 
son's  hands  had  swoUen  so  that  he  could  not  move 
a  muscle  and  the  man  became  delirious,  raving  of  his 
Orkney  home  as  they  roamed  aimlessly  over  the 
illimitable  ice  fields.    That  night,  the  seventh  they 

362 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

had  been  adrift,  just  as  the  moon  sank  below  the 
sea,  the  Orkneyman,  Tomson,  breathed  his  last. 

Ross  was  now  alone.  A  great  ice  floe  borne  down 
by  a  wash  of  the  tide,  swept  away  Tomson's  body. 
Ross  scrambled  upon  the  fresh  drift  and  hoping 
against  hope,  scarcely  able  to  believe  his  senses, 
saw  that  the  new  icepan  extended  to  the  land.  Half 
blinded  by  sun  glare,  hands  and  feet  frozen  stiff, 
now  laughing  hysterically,  now  crying  deliriously, 
the  fellow  managed  to  reach  shore,  but  when  the  sun 
set  he  lost  all  sense  of  direction  and  could  not  find 
his  way  farther.  That  night,  his  hands  were  so  stiff 
that  he  could  not  strike  a  light  on  his  flint,  but  by 
tramping  down  brushwood,  made  himself  a  bed  in 
the  snow.  Sunrise  gave  him  his  bearings  again  and 
through  his  half-delirium  he  realized  he  was  only 
four  miles  from  the  fort.  Partly  walking,  partly 
creeping,  he  reached  York  gates  at  seven  that  night. 
One  of  the  dogs  had  followed  him  all  the  way,  which 
probably  explains  how  he  was  not  frozen  sleeping 
out  uncovered  for  nine  nights.  Hands  and  feet  had 
to  be  amputated,  but  his  countrymen  of  Orkney 
took  up  a  subscription  for  him  and  the  Company 
gave  him  a  pension  of  ;^2o  a  year  for  life.  The 
same  amount  was  bestowed  on  the  widows  of  the 
two  dead  men.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Hudson 
Bay  became  ill-omened  to  Orkneymen  who  heard 

363 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

such  tales  of  fur  hunting  as  have  been  related  of 
Richmond  and  York. 

But  the  Company  was  now  on  the  eve  of  the  most 
momentous  change  in  its  history.  Anthony  Hendry 
had  reported  how  the  French  traders  had  gone  up  the 
Saskatchewan  to  the  tribes  of  equestrian  Indians;  and 
Hendry  had  been  cashiered  for  his  pains.  Now  a  new 
fact  influenced  the  Company.  French  power  had 
fallen  at  Quebec,  in  1759.  Instead  of  a  few  French 
traders  scattered  through  the  West,  were  thousands 
of  wild  wood  rovers,  half -Indian,  half -French,  voy- 
ageurs  and  bush-lopers,  fled  from  the  new  laws  of  the 
new  English  regime  to  the  freedom  of  the  wilderness. 
Beyond  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  the  long  hand  of  the  law 
could  not  reach.  Beyond  the  Sault,  was  law  of 
neither  God  nor  man.  To  make  matters  worse, 
English  merchants,  who  had  flocked  to  Montreal 
and  Quebec,  now  outfitted  these  French  rovers  and 
personally  led  them  to  the  far  hunting  field  of  the 
Pays  d'en  Haul — a  term  that  meant  anything  from 
Lake  Superior  to  the  Pole.  The  English  Adven- 
turers sent  more  men  up  stream — up  the  Moose 
toward  Quebec  as  far  as  Abbittibbi,  up  the  Albany 
toward  what  is  now  Manitoba  past  Henley  House 
as  far  as  Osnaburg,  across  what  is  now  Keewatin 
toward  Lake  Superior  as  far  as  New  Brunswick 
House.    The  catch  of  furs  showed  a  decrease  every 

364 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

year.  Fewer  Indians  came  to  the  bay,  fewer  hunters 
to  the  outlying  fur  posts.  Dividends  dropped  from 
lo  to  8  and  from  8  to  6  and  from  6  to  5  per  cent. 
Instead  of  100,000  beaver  a  year  there  came  to  the 
London  market  only  40,000  and  50,000  a  year. 

To  stand  on  the  rights  of  monopoly  conferred  by 
an  ancient  charter  while  "interlopers  and  pedlars," 
as  the  Company  called  them — ran  away  with  the 
profits  of  that  monopoly,  was  like  standing  on  your 
dignity  with  a  thief  while  he  picked  your  pockets. 
The  "smug  ancient  gentlemen,"  as  enemies  desig- 
nated the  Company,  bestirred  themselves  mightily. 
Moses  Norton,  governor  of  Churchill,  was  no  more 
anxious  to  fight  the  French  Canadians  on  the  hunting 
field  now  than  he  had  been  in  the  days  of  Anthony 
Hendry,  but  being  half-Indian  he  knew  all  the  legends 
of  the  Indians — knew  that  even  if  the  French  already 
had  possession  of  the  Saskatchewan,  north  of  the 
Saskatchewan  was  an  unclaimed  kingdom,  whence 
no  white  man  had  yet  set  foot,  as  large  again  as  the 
bounds  of  Hudson  Bay. 

Besides,  the  Company  had  not  forgotten  those 
legends  of  minerals  in  the  North  which  had  lured 
Captain  Knight  to  his  death.  Chippewyan  Indians 
still  came  to  Churchill  with  huge  masses  of  amor- 
phous copper  strung  on  necklaces  or  battered  into 
rough  pots  and  pans  and  cooking  utensils.    Whence 

365 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

came  that  copper?  Oddly  enough,  the  world  cannot 
answer  that  question  yet.  The  Indians  said  from 
"a  Far- Away-Metal  River"  that  ran  to  a  vast  sea 
where  the  tide  ebbed  and  flowed.  Once  more  hopes 
of  finding  a  Northwest  Passage  rose ;  once  more 
hopes  of  those  metals  that  had  led  Knight  to  ship- 
wreck. Norton  €uggetsed  that  this  time  the  search 
should  be  made  by  land.  Serving  as  a  clerk  on  a 
brig  at  Churchill  was  a  well-educated  young  English- 
man already  mentioned — Samuel  Heame. 

The  yearly  boats  that  came  to  Churchill  in  1769, 
commissioned  Heame  for  this  expedition,  whose 
ostensible  object  was  the  finding  of  the  Metal  River 
now  known  as  the  Coppermine  but  whose  real  object 
was  the  occupation  of  a  vast  region  not  yet  pre- 
empted by  the  Canadians.  The  story  of  Heame' s 
travels  would  fill  a  volume.  Norton,  the  govemor, 
was  a  curious  compound  of  ability  and  sham,  strength 
and  vice.  Bom  of  an  Indian  mother  and  English 
father,  he  seemed  to  have  inherited  all  thp  supersti- 
tions of  one  and  vices  of  the  other.  He  was  educated 
in  England  and  married  an  EngHsh  woman.  Yet 
when  he  came  to  the  wildemess,  he  had  a  seraglio 
of  native  wives  that  would  have  put  a  Mormon  to 
the  blush.  These  he  kept  apart  in  mdely  but  gor- 
geously furnished  apartments  to  which  he  alone  pos- 
sessed the  keys.    At  the  mess-room  table,  he  wearied 

366 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

the  souls  of  his  officers  by  long-winded  and  saintly 
sermons  on  virtue  which  were  expounded  as  regu- 
larly as  the  night  supper  came  round.  Did  some 
blackleg  expiating  dissipations  by  life  in  the  wilds 
judge  Norton's  sermons  by  his  conduct  and  emulate 
his  example  rather  than  his  precepts,  Norton  had 
the  culprit  tied  to  the  triangle  and  flogged  till  his 
back  was  raw.  An  Indian  is  never  a  hypocrite. 
Why  would  he  be?  His  code  is  to  do  as  he  wishes, 
to  follow  his  desires,  to  be  stronger  than  his  enemies, 
to  impose  on  the  weak.  He  has  no  religion  to  hold 
a  higher  example  up  like  a  mirror  that  reflects  his 
own  face  as  loathsome,  and  he  has  no  science  to  teach 
him  that  what  religion  calls  "evil"  means  in  the  long 
run,  wretchedness  and  rottenness  and  ruin.  But 
the  hypocrisy  in  Norton  was  the  white  man  strain — 
the  fig  leaf  peculiar  to  civilized  man — living  a  lie  so 
long  that  he  finally  believes  the  lie  himself.  Knowl- 
edge of  white  man's  science,  Norton  had ;  but  to  the 
Indian  in  him,  it  was  still  mystery;  "medicine,"  a 
secret  means  to  kill  an  enemy,  arsenic  in  medicine, 
laudanum  in  whiskey,  or  poison  that  caused  con- 
vulsions to  an  Indian  who  refused  either  a  daughter 
for  the  seraglio  or  Ix^aver  at  Norton's  terms.  A 
white  man  who  could  wield  such  power  was  to  the 
Indians  a  god,  and  Norton  held  them  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand.    Equally  successful  was  the  half-breed 

367 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

governor  managing  the  governing  committee  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  London;  for  he  sent 
them  enormous  returns  in  beaver  at  small  outlay. 

Seven  great  guns  roared  their  God-speed  as  the 
fort  gates  opened  and  Hearne  sped  out  by  dog  train 
for  his  inland  trip  north  on  November  6,  1769. 
Norton  waved  a  farewell  and  Hearne  disappeared 
over  the  rolling  drifts  with  two  Indians  as  guides, 
two  white  men  as  packers  to  look  after  provisions. 
Striking  northwest,  Hearne  w^as  joined  by  other 
traveling  Indians.  Bitterly  cold  weather  set  in. 
One  Indian  guide  deserted  the  first  night  out  and 
the  other  proved  himself  an  impudent  beggar,  who 
camped  when  it  was  cold  and  camped  when  it  was 
wet  and  paused  to  hunt  when  it  was  fair,  but  laid 
up  no  stock  of  provisions,  giving  Hearne  plainly  to 
understand  that  the  whole  Indian  cavalcade  looked 
to  the  white  men's  sleighs  for  food.  The  travelers 
did  not  make  ten  miles  a  day.  At  the  end  of  the 
month  Hearne  wakened  one  morning  to  find  his 
stores  plundered  and  gales  of  laughter  ringing  back 
as  the  Indians  marched  off  with  their  booty.  Not 
even  guns  were  left.  Rabbit  and  partridge-snaring 
saved  the  three  white  men  from  starving  as  they 
retreated.  They  were  safe  inside  the  fort  once 
more  by  December  11.  Hearne's  object  setting  out 
in  midwinter  had  been  to  reach  the  North  before 

368 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

summer,  and  nothing  daunted,  he  again  set  forth 
with  five  fresh  guides  on  February  23,  1770,  again 
depending  on  snares  for  food.  April  saw  the 
marchers  halted  on  the  borders  of  the  Barren  Lands, 
scouring  the  wide  wastes  of  treeless  swamps  and  rock 
for  game.  Caribou  had  retreated  inland  and  not  yet 
begun  their  traverse  to  the  bay.  Until  wild  fowls 
came  winging  north,  the  camp  lived  on  snow  water, 
tobacco  and  such  scraps  of  leather  and  dried  meat 
as  had  not  already  been  devoured.  A  chance  herd 
of  wandering  deer  relieved  the  famine  till  June, 
when  rations  were  again  reduced ;  this  time,  to  wild 
cranberries.  Then  the  traverse  of  the  caribou  herds 
came — a  rush  of  countless  myriads  with  the  tramp 
of  an  army  and  the  clicking  of  a  multitude  of  horns 
from  west  to  east  for  weeks.  Indians  had  gathered 
to  the  traverse  in  hundreds.  Moss  served  as  fuel. 
Provisions  were  abundant.  Heame  had  almost  de- 
cided to  winter  with  the  wandering  Chippewyans 
when  they  again  began  to  plunder  his  store  of  am- 
munition. Wind  had  smashed  some  of  the  survey 
instruments,  so  he  joined  a  band  of  Iiunters  on  their 
way  to  the  fort,  which  he  reached  on  November  25. 
Hearne  had  not  found  "  Far- A  way-Metal-River," 
nor  the  copper  mines,  nor  the  Northwest  Passage, 
but  he  had  found  fresh  tribes  of  Indians,  and  these 
Were  what  Norton  wanted,    December  7,  1770,  less 

369 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

than  a  month  from  his  home-coming,  Heame  was 
again  dispatched  by  Norton.  Matonabbee,  a  famous 
guide  of  the  Chippewyans,  accompanied  the  explorer 
with  a  retinue  of  the  Indian's  wives  to  draw  sleds 
and  handle  baggage.  Almost  as  notable  as  Norton 
was  Matonabbee,  the  Chippewyan  chief — an  Indian 
of  iron  constitution  and  iron  will,  pitiless  to  his  wives, 
whom  he  used  as  beasts  of  burden;  relentless  in  his 
aims,  fearless  of  all  Indians,  a  giant  measuring  more 
than  six  feet,  straight  as  an  arrow,  supple  as  willow, 
hard  as  nails.  Imperturbable  and  good-natured 
Matonabbee  set  the  pace  at  winged  speed,  pausing 
for  neither  hunger  nor  cold.  Christmas  week  was 
celebrated  by  fasting.  Matonabbee  uttered  no  com- 
plaint; and  the  white  man  could  not  well  turn  back 
when  the  Indian  was  as  eager  for  the  next  day's 
march  as  if  he  had  supped  sumptuously  instead  of 
going  to  bed  on  a  meal  of  moss  water.  Self-pity, 
fear,  hesitation,  were  emotions  of  which  the  guide 
knew  nothing.  He  had  undertaken  to  lead  Heame 
to  "Far- Away-Metal-River,"  and  only  death  could 
stop  him. 

In  the  Barren  Lands,  caribou  enough  were  killed 
to  afford  the  whole  company  provisions  for  six 
months;  and  the  marchers  were  joined  by  two 
hundred  more  Indians.  Wood  became  scarcer  and 
smaller  as  they  marched  north.    Matonabbee  halted 

370 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

in  April  and  ordered  his  wives  to  camp  while  the 
men  made  dugouts  for  the  voyage  down  stream. 
The  boats  were  heavy  in  front  to  resist  the  ice  jams. 
If  Heame  had  marveled  at  the  large  company  now 
following  Matonabbee  to  a  hard,  dangerous  hunting 
field  he  quickly  guessed  good  reasons  when  wives 
and  children  were  ordered  to  head  westward  and 
await  the  warrior's  return  at  Lake  Athabasca. 
Women  are  ordered  away  only  when  there  is  prospect 
of  war,  and  Heame  could  easily  surmise  whence  the 
Chippewyans  annually  obtained  eleven  thousand 
of  their  best  beaver  pelts.  The  sun  no  longer  set. 
It  was  continual  day,  and  on  June  12,  1771,  the 
swamps  of  the  Barrens  converged  to  a  narrow,  rocky 
riyer  bed  whence  roared  a  misty  cataract — "Far- 
Off-Metal- River" — the  Coppermine  River,  without 
any  sign  of  the  ebbing  tide  that  was  to  lead  to  the 
South  Sea.  When  Heame  came  back  to  his  Indian 
companions  from  the  river  bed,  he  found  them 
stripped  and  daubed  in  war  paint,  gliding  as  if  in 
ambush  from  stone  to  stone  down  the  steep  declivity 
of  the  waterfall.  Then  far  below  the  rapids,  like  the 
tops  of  big  bowlders,  appeared  the  rounded  leather 
tent-peaks  of  an  Eskimo  camp.  The  Eskimos  were 
apparently  sound  asleep,  for  it  was  midnight  though 
as  light  as  day. 
Before  Heame  could  collect  his  senses  or  alarm 
371 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  sleeping  victims,  he  had  been  left  far  to  the  rear 
by  his  villainous  comrades.  Then  occurred  one  of 
the  most  deplorable  tragedies  in  the  history  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Such  of  the  horrors  as 
are  tellable,  I  have  told  elsewhere  in  the  account  of 
Hearne's  travels.  The  raiders  fell  on  the  Eskimos 
like  wolves  on  the  sheepfold.  Not  content  with 
plundering  the  camp  of  beaver  pelts,  they  speared, 
stabbed,  bludgeoned,  men,  women,  children,  old 
and  young,  till  the  river  ran  red  with  innocent  blood. 
Rushing  forward,  Hearne  implored  Matonabbee  to 
stop  the  slaughter.  Matonabbee' s  response  was  a 
shout  of  laughter.  What  were  the  weak  for  but  to 
be  the  victims  of  the  strong?  What  did  these  fool- 
Eskimos  toil  for  but  to  render  tribute  of  their  toil 
to  him,  who  had  the  force  to  take?  The  doctrine 
was  not  a  new  one.  Neither  is  it  yet  old;  only  we 
modems  do  our  bludgeoning  with  financial  coercion, 
competition,  monopoly  or  what  not,  instead  of  the 
butt  end  of  a  gun,  or  stone  spear;  and  it  would  be 
instructive  to  know  if  philosophers  in  a  thousand 
years  will  consider  our  methods  as  barbarous  as  we 
consider  the  savages  of  two  hundred  years  ago. 

The  tortures  of  that  raid  have  no  place  in  a  history 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  They  are  told  in 
Hearne's  life,  and  they  haunted  the  explorer  like  a 
bloody  nightmare.     One    day    later,    on    July  17, 

372 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

Hearne  stood  on  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  ocean — 
the  first  white  man  to  witness  the  tossing  ice  floes 
of  that  green,  lone,  paleocrystic  sea;  but  his  vision 
was  not  the  exaltation  of  an  explorer.  It  was  a 
hideous  memory  of  young  girls  speared  bodily 
through  and  through  and  left  writhing  pinioned  to 
the  ground;  of  young  boys  whose  hearts  were  torn 
out  and  devoured  while  warm;  of  old  men  and 
women  gouged,  buffeted,  beaten  to  death.  It  does 
not  make  a  pretty  picture,  that  doctrine  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  strength,  the  survival  of  the  fit,  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  weak — it  does  not  make  a  pretty  picture 
when  you  reduce  it  to  terms  of  the  physical.  How 
quickly  wild-beast  savagery  may  reduce  men  to  the 
level  of  beasts  was  witnessed  as  Hearne  rested*  on  the 
shores  of  the  Arctic — a  musk  ox  was  shot.  The 
warriors  tore  it  to  pieces  and  devoured  it  raw. 

Retreating  up  the  shelving  rocks  of  the  Copper- 
mine twenty  miles,  Hearne  found  what  he  thought 
were  the  copper  mines  from  which  the  Indians  made 
their  metal  weapons.  The  company  then  struck 
westward  for  the  famous  Athabasca  region  where 
the  wives  were  to  camp  for  the  winter.  Athabasca 
proved  a  hunter's  paradise  as  it  has  been  ever  since 
Hearne  discovered  it.  Beaver  abounded  in  the 
swampy  muskegs.  Buffalo  roamed  to  the  south. 
Moose  yards  were  found  in  the  wooded  bluffs;  mink, 

373 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

marten,  fox,  every  fur  bearer  which  the  English 
Adventurers  sought.  In  spring,  a  flotilla  carried 
the  Indians  down  to  Churchill,  where  Hearne  arrived 
on  June  30,  1772. 

The  geographical  importance  of  Hearne's  dis- 
covery— the  fact  that  he  had  found  a  region  half 
the  size  of  European  Russia  and  proved  that  not  a 
narrow  strip  of  land  lay  between  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  but  a  vast  continent — was  eclipsed  by  the 
importance  of  his  discoveries  for  the  fur  traders. 
The  region  must  be  occupied  by  the  English  Com- 
pany before  the  French  Canadians  found  it.  Old 
Moses  Norton  sick  unto  death  hastened  to  send  word 
to  the  governing  committee  in  London,  and  the 
governing  committee  voted  Hearne  a  present  of 
;g2oo,  ;^io  a  year  for  a  valet,  £130  a  year  as  a  salary, 
and  promotion  as  governor  on  Norton's  death,  which 
occurred  on  December  29,  1773. 

The  death  of  Norton  was  of  a  piece  with  his  life. 
The  bully  fell  ill  of  some  deadly  intestinal  trouble 
that  caused  him  as  excruciating  tortures  as  ever  his 
poisons  had  caused  his  victims.  Calling  the  officers 
of  the  fort,  he  publicly  made  his  will,  leaving  all  his 
savings  to  his  wife  in  England  but  directing  that  she 
should  yearly  set  aside  ;^io  for  the  clothing  of  his 
Indian  wives  at  Churchill.  As  the  Indian  women 
stood  round  the  dying  tyrant's  bed  his  eye  detected 

374 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

an  officer  whispering  to  one  of  the  young  Indian 
wives.  With  a  roar,  Norton  leaped  to  his  feet  in 
the  bed. 

"You ,"  he  roared,    "I'U   burn 

you  ahve!    I'll  bum  you  alive " 

The  efifort  cost  the  bully  his  life.  He  fell  back 
dead — he  whose  hand  had  tyrannized  over  the  fort  for 
fifty  years,  a  mass  of  corrupting  flesh  which  men 
hurriedly  put  out  of  sight.  Heame  was  called  from 
the  Saskatchewan  to  become  governor  and  under- 
take the  opening  of  the  inland  trade.  Hearne's 
report  on  his  trip  to  the  Coppermine  and  Athabasca 
was  received  at  London  in  November,  1772.  In 
May  of  1773,  the  minutes  recorded  "that  the  com- 
pany having  under  consideration  the  interruptions 
to  the  trade  from  the  Canadian  Pedlars  as  reported 
by  Isaac  Batts  at  Basquia,  do  decide  on  mature  de- 
liberation to  send  Samuel  Heame  to  establish  a  fort 
at  Basquia  with  Mr.  Cocking."  They  were  accom- 
panied by  Louis  Primo,  John  Cole  and  half  a  dozen 
French  renegades,  who  had  been  bribed  to  desert  from 
the  Canadians — in  all  seventeen  men.  Heame  did 
better  than  he  was  instructed.  Leaving  Batts,  Louis 
Primo  and  the  Frenchmen  at  Basquia  to  compete 
against  the  Canadians,  he  established  Cumberland 
House  far  above,  on  the  Saskatchewan,  at  Sturgeon 
Lake,  where  the  Indians  could  be  intercepted  before 

375 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

they  came  down  to  the  French  posts.  Traders  inland 
were  paid  £40  a  year  with  a  bounty  of  £2  when  they 
signed  their  contract  and  a  bonus  of  a  shilling  for 
every  twenty  beaver. 

When  Heame  was  recalled  to  Churchill  to  become 
governor,  Matthew  Cocking  was  left  superintendent 
of  inland  trade.  Cocking  had  earned  laurels  for 
himself  by  a  voyage  almost  as  important  as  Heame's. 
The  very  week  that  Hearne  came  back  to  Churchill 
at  the  end  of  June,  1772,  from  the  Athabasca,  Cock- 
ing had  set  out  from  York  for  the  South  Saskatche- 
wan, He  accompanied  the  Assiniboines  returning 
from  their  yearly  trip  to  the  bay.  By  the  end  of 
July  he  had  crossed  the  north  end  of  Lake  Winnipeg 
and  gone  up  the  Saskatchewan  to  Basquia.  Louis 
Primo,  the  renegade  Frenchman,  was  met  leading  a 
flotilla  of  canoes  down  to  Hudson  Bay,  and  it  must 
have  afforded  Cocking  great  satisfaction  to  see  that 
the  activity  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had 
forced  the  French  Canadians  to  desert  both  their 
posts  on  the  lower  Saskatchewan.  He  passed  the 
empty  houses  on  the  banks  of  the  river  where  the 
leaders  of  the  French-Canadians  had  had  their  forts, 
Findlay's  and  Frobisher's  and  Curry's.  Leaving 
canoes  somewhere  eastward  of  the  Forks,  Cocking 
struck  south  for  the  country  of  the  Blackfeet  at  the 
foothills  of  the  Rockies,  near  what  is  now  the  Inter- 

376 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

national  Boundary.  The  South  Saskatchewan  was 
crossed  at  the  end  of  August  in  bull-boats — tub-like 
craft  made  of  parchment  stretched  on  willows.  In 
the  Eagle  Hills,  Cocking  met  French  traders,  who 
had  abandoned  civilized  life  and  joined  the  Indian 
tribes.  The  Eagle  Hills  were  famous  as  the  place 
where  the  Indians  got  tent  poles  and  birch  bark 
before  crossing  the  plains  to  the  east  and  south. 
Cocking  spent  the  winter  with  the  Blackfeet  and 
the  Bloods  and  the  Piegans  and  the  Sarcees,  whom 
he  names  as  the  Confederacy  of  Waterfall  Indians, 
owing  to  the  numerous  cataracts  on  the  upper  reaches 
of  Bow  River.  He  was  amazed  to  find  fields  of 
cultivated  tobacco  among  the  Blackfeet  and  con- 
sidered the  tribe  more  like  Europeans  than  any 
Indians  he  had  ever  met.  The  winter  was  spent 
hunting  buffalo  by  means  of  the  famous  "pounds." 
Buffalo  were  pursued  by  riders  into  a  triangular  en- 
closure of  sticks  round  a  large  field.  Behind  the 
fences  converging  to  a  point  hid  the  hunters,  whose 
cries  and  clappings  frightened  the  herds  into  rushing 
precipitately  to  the  converging  angle.  Here  was 
either  a  huge  hole,  or  the  natural  drop  over  the  bank 
of  a  ravine,  where  the  buffalo  tumbled,  mass  after 
mass  of  infuriated  animals,  literally  bridging  a  path 
for  the  living  across  the  bodies  of  the  dead.  The 
Blackfeet  hunters  thought  nothing  of  riding  for  a 

377 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

hundred  miles  to  round  up  the  scattered  herds  to  one 
of  these  "pounds"  or  "corrals."  All  that  Hendry  had 
said  of  the  Blackfeet  twenty  years  before,  Cocking 
found  to  be  true.  All  were  riders — men,  women,  chil- 
dren— the  first  tribes  Cocking  had  yet  met  where 
women  were  not  beasts  of  burden.  The  tribe  had 
earthen  pots  for  cooking  utensils,  used  moss  for  tinder, 
and  recorded  the  history  of  the  people  in  rude  drawings 
on  painted  buffalo  robes.  In  fact,  Cocking's  descrip- 
tion of  the  tribal  customs  might  be  an  account  of  the 
Iroquois.  The  Blackfeet' s  entire  lives  were  spent 
doing  two  things — hunting  and  raiding  the  Snakes 
of  the  South  for  horses.  Men  and  women  captives 
were  tortured  with  shocking  cruelty  that  made  the 
Blackfeet  a  terror  to  all  enemies ;  but  young  captives 
were  adopted  into  the  tribe  after  the  custom  followed 
by  the  Iroquois  of  the  East.  Of  food,  there  was 
always  plenty  from  the  buffalo  hunts;  and  game 
abounded  from  the  Saskatchewan  Forks  to  the 
mountains. 

When  Cocking  tried  to  persuade  the  Blackfeet 
to  come  down  to  the  fort  with  furs,  they  were  re- 
luctant. They  did  not  understand  canoe  travel 
and  could  not  take  their  horses,  and  why  should  they 
go  down?  The  Assiniboines  would  trade  the  furs 
for  firearms  to  be  brought  to  the  Blackfeet.  Cocking 
pointed  out  that  with  more  firearms,  they  could  be 

378 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

masters  of  the  entire  country  and  by  dint  of  present- 
ing cocked  hats  and  swords  and  gold-laced  red  coats 
to  the  chiefs,  induced  them  to  promise  not  to  trade 
with  "the  Canadian  Pedlars."  "We  have  done  all 
in  our  power  to  keep  them  from  trading  with  Fran- 
cois or  Curry,  who  lie  at  the  Portage  (the  Rapids) 
of  the  Saskatchewan  to  intercept  the  natives  coming 
to  us." 

On  May  i6,  1773,  Cocking  set  out  to  return  to  the 
fort.  For  the  first  time,  a  few  young  Blackfeet 
joined  the  canoes  going  to  York.  At  the  Forks,  two 
rival  camps  were  found,  that  of  Louis  Primo  who 
had  come  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  from  the  French, 
and  old  Francois  working  for  the  French  Canadians. 
The  English  traders  had  no  liquor.  Four  gallons 
of  rum  diluted  with  water  won  the  Indians  over  to 
old  Francois,  the  Canadian,  who  picked  out  one 
hundred  of  the  rarest  skins  and  was  only  hindered 
taking  the  entire  hunt  because  he  had  no  more 
goods  to  trade.  Francois'  house  was  a  long  log 
structure  divided  into  two  sections,  half  for  a  kitchen 
and  mess  room,  half  for  a  trading  room,  and  the  furs 
were  kept  in  the  loft.  Outside,  were  tsvo  or  three 
log  cabins  for  Francois'  white  men,  of  whom  he  had 
twenty.  Round  all  ran  ten-foot  stockades  against 
which  lay  the  great  canoes  twenty-four  feet  long, 
twenty-two  inches  deep,  which  carried  the  furs  to 

379 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Lake  Superior.  Cocking,  who  was  used  to  factors 
ruling  like  little  kings,  was  shocked  to  find  old 
Francois  "an  ignorant  Frenchman,  who  did  not 
keep  his  men  at  proper  distance  and  had  no  watch 
at  night.  It  surprises  me,"  he  writes,  "to  observe 
what  a  warm  side  the  natives  hath  to  the  French 
Canadians." 

Down  at  Grand  Rapids  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Saskatchewan,  Cocking  received  another  shock. 
Louis  Primo  and  those  Frenchmen  bribed  to  join  the 
Hudson's  Bay,  who  had  gone  on  from  the  Forks 
ahead  of  Cocking,  were  to  join  him  at  the  last  por- 
tage of  the  Saskatchewan  to  go  down  to  York.  He 
found  that  they  had  gone  back  to  the  French  bag 
and  baggage  with  all  their  furs  and  goods  supplied 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  and  were  already  halfway 
down  to  Lake  Superior.  Spite  of  being  only  "an 
ignorant  old  Frenchman,"  Francois  had  played  a 
crafty  game.  By  June  i8,  Cocking  was  back  at 
York. 

But  the  Company  did  not  content  itself  with  oc- 
casional expeditions  inland.  Henceforth  "patroons 
of  the  woods,"  as  they  were  called,  were  engaged  to 
live  inland  with  the  Indians  and  collect  furs.  Fifty- 
one  men  were  regularly  kept  at  Cumberland  House, 
and  a  bonus  of  £20  a  year  regularly  paid  to  the 
patroons.    Whenever  a  Frenchman  could  be  bribed 

380 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

to  come  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  traders,  he  was 
engaged  at  £ioo  a  year.  Bonuses  above  salaries 
amounted  to  £2cx>  a  year  for  the  factors,  to  £40  for 
the  traders,  to  £80  for  traveling  servants.  The 
Company  now  had  a  staff  of  five  hundred  white  men 
on  the  field  and  ten  times  as  many  Indians.  In 
1785,  Robert  Longmore  is  engaged  to  explore  inland 
up  Churchill  River  as  far  as  Athabasca,  where,  in 
1799,  Malcolm  Ross  is  permanently  placed  as  chief 
trader  at  ;;{^8o  a  year.  In  1795,  Joseph  Howse  is 
sent  inland  from  York  to  explore  the  Rockies,  where 
he  gives  his  name  to  a  pass,  and  "it  is  resolved  that 
forts  shall  be  erected  in  this  country  too."  John 
Davidson  explores  the  entire  coast  of  Labrador  on 
the  east;  and  on  the  west  of  Hudson  Bay  Charles 
Duncan  reports  finally  and,  as  far  as  the  Company  is 
concerned,  forever — there  is  no  navigable  North- 
west Passage.  In  all,  the  Company  has  spent 
£100,000  seeking  that  mythical  passage,  which  is 
now  written  off  as  total  loss.  Up  at  Marble  Island, 
the  sea  still  takes  toll  of  the  brave,  and  James  Mouat, 
the  whaler,  is  buried  in  1773,  beside  Captain  Knight. 
At  this  stage  too,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  12,000  gallons 
of  brandy  are  yearly  sent  into  the  country. 

It  was  in  1779  that  The  King  George  ship  beat 
about  the  whole  summer  in  the  ice  without  entering 
York  and  was  compelled  to  unload  its  cargo  at 

381 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Churchill,  for  which  Captain  Fowler  was  suspended 
and  lost  his  gratuity  of  £ioo. 

Such  strenuous  efforts  brought  big  rewards  in 
beaver,  seventy,  and  eighty,  and  ninety  thousand  a 
year  to  London,  but  the  expenses  of  competition  had 
increased  so  enormously  that  dividends  had  fallen 
from  lo  to  5  per  cent.  I  suppose  it  was  to  impress 
the  native  mind  with  the  idea  of  pomp,  but  about 
this  time  I  find  the  Company  furnished  all  its  officers 
with  ''brass-barreled  pistols,  swords  with  inlaid 
handles,  laced  suits  and  cocked  hats."  A  more  per- 
fect example  of  the  English  mind's  inability  to  grasp 
American  conditions  could  not  be  found  than  an 
entry  in  the  expense  book  of  1784  when  the  Com- 
pany buys  "150  tracts  on  the  Country  Clergyman's 
Advice  to  Parishioners^'  for  distribution  among 
North  American  Indians,  who  could  not  read  any 
language  let  alone  English. 

It  was  no  longer  a  policy  of  drift  but  drive,  and  in 
the  midst  of  this  came  the  shock  of  the  French  war. 
All  hands  were  afield  from  Churchill  but  thirty-nine 
white  servants  one  sleepy  afternoon  on  August  8, 
1782,  and  Governor  Hearne  was  busy  trading  with 
some  Indians  whom  Matonabbee  had  brought  down, 
when  the  astounding  apparition  appeared  of  a  fleet 
at  sea.  No  appointed  signals  were  displayed  by 
the  incoming  ships — they  were  not  Company  ships, 

382 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

and  they  anchored  five  miles  from  the  fort  to  sound. 
Churchill  had  not  heard  of  war  between  France  and 
England.  No  alarm  was  felt.  The  fort  had  been 
forty  years  in  building  and  was  one  of  the  strongest 
in  America,  constructed  of  stone  with  forty  great 
guns  and  an  outer  battery  to  prevent  approach. 
Probably  intending  to  send  out  a  boat  the  next 
morning,  Hearne  went  comfortably  to  bed.  At 
three  in  the  morning,  which  was  as  light  as  day, 
somebody  noticed  that  four  hundred  armed  men 
had  landed  not  far  from  the  fort  and  were  marching 
in  regular  military  order  for  the  gates.  Too  late,  a 
reveille  sounded  and  bells  rang  to  arais.  Hearne 
dashed  out  with  two  men  and  met  the  invaders  half- 
way. Then  he  learned  that  the  fleet  was  part  of  the 
French  navy  and  the  four  hundred  invaders  regular 
marines  under  the  great  officer — La  Perouse.  Re- 
sistance was  impossible  now.  The  guns  of  the  fort 
were  not  even  manned.  The  garrison  was  too  small 
to  permit  one  man  to  a  gun.  At  six  in  the  morning, 
the  British  flag  was  lowered  and  a  white  tablecloth 
of  surrender  run  up  on  the  pole.  Hearne  and  the 
officers  were  taken  on  board  prisoners  of  war.  Then 
the  rough  soldiery  ran  riot.  Furs,  stores,  docu- 
ments— all  were  plundered,  and  a  second  day  spent 
blowing  up  the  fortifications.  Buildings  were  burned 
but  the  French  were  unable  to  do  serious  damage  to 

383 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  walls.  Matonabbee  the  great  chief  looked  on  in 
horror.  He  had  thought  his  English  friends  invin- 
cible, and  now  he  saw  his  creed  of  brute  strength 
turned  upon  them  and  upon  himself.  No  longer 
he  smiled  contemptuously  at  the  horror.  It  was  one 
thing  to  glory  in  the  survival  of  the  strong — another 
to  be  the  under  dog.  Matonabbee  drew  away  out- 
side the  walls  and  killed  himself.  Old  Norton's 
widows  and  children  were  scattered.  On  one  the 
hardships  fell  with  peculiar  harshness.  His  daughter 
Marie  he  had  always  nurtured  as  a  white  girl.  She 
fled  in  terror  of  her  life  from  the  brutal  soldiery  and 
perished  of  starvation  outside  the  walls. 

Hearne  has  been  blamed  for  two  things  in  this  sur- 
render, for  not  making  some  show  of  resistance  and 
for  not  sending  scouts  overland  south  to  warn  York. 
For  thirty-nine  men  to  have  fought  four  hundred 
would  have  invited  extermination,  and  Hearne  did 
not  know  that  the  invaders  were  enemies  till  he 
himself  was  captured  and  so  could  not  send  word  to 
York.  What  he  might  have  done  was  earlier  in  the 
game.  If  he  had  sent  out  a  pilot  to  guide  the  ships 
into  Churchill  Harbor,  it  might  have  led  the  enemy 
to  wreck  among  reefs  and  sandbars. 

On  the  third  day,  the  three  French  men-of-war 
set  sail  for  York,  leaving  Churchill  in  flames.  Out- 
ward bound,  one  of  the  Company  ships  was  sighted 

384 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 

coming  into  Churchill.  The  French  gave  chase  till 
seven  in  the  evening,  but  the  English  captain  led  off 
through  such  shoal  water  the  French  desisted  with 
a  single  chance  volley  in  the  direction  of  the  fleeing 
fur  ship. 

On  August  20,  the  Company  ship  lying  at  York 
observed  a  strange  fleet  some  twenty  miles  off  shore 
landing  men  on  Nelson  River  behind  York,  which 
faced  Hayes  River.  From  plans  taken  at  Churchill, 
La  Perouse  had  learned  that  York  was  weakest  to  the 
rear.  There  were  in  the  fort  at  that  time  sixty  Eng- 
lish and  twelve  Indians  with  some  twenty-five  cannon 
and  twelve  swivel  guns  on  the  galleries.  There  was 
a  supply  of  fresh  water  inside  the  fort  with  thirty 
head  of  cattle;  but  a  panic  prevailed.  All  the  guns 
were  overset  to  prevent  the  French  using  them,  and 
the  English  ship  scudded  for  sea  at  nightfall. 

The  French  meanwhile  had  marched  across  the 
land  behind  York  and  now  presented  themselves  at 
the  gates.  The  governor,  Humphry  Martin,  wel- 
comed them  with  a  white  flag  in  his  hand.  Umfre- 
ville,  who  gives  the  account  of  the  surrender,  was 
among  the  captured.  His  disgust  knew  no  bounds. 
"The  enemy's  ships  lay  at  least  twenty  miles  from 
the  factory  in  a  boisterous  sea,"  he  writes,  "and 
could  not  co-operate  with  the  troops  on  shore.  The 
troops  had  no  supplies.    Cold,  hunger  and  fatigue 

38s 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

were  hourly  working  in  our  favor.  The  factory  was 
not  in  want  of  a  single  thing  to  withstand  siege. 
The  people  showed  no  fear  but  the  reverse.  Yet 
the  English  governor  surrendered  without  firing  a 
gun." 

The  French  did  not  attempt  to  occupy  the  forts, 
which  they  had  captured,  but  retired  with  the  officers 
as  prisoners,  and  with  the  plunder.  By  October 
the  Company  had  received  letters  from  the  prison 
at  Dinan  Castle,  France,  asking  for  the  ransom  of 
the  men.  By  May,  the  ransomed  men  were  in 
London,  and  by  June  back  at  their  posts  on  the  bay. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XIX. — As  stated  elsewhere,  Cocking  classi- 
fied the  Blackfeet  Confederacy  as  Waterfall  Indians,  composed 
of  Powestic  Athinuewuck,  Mithco  Athinuewuck,  (Blood); 
Koskiton  Wathesitock  (Blackfeet) ;  Pegonow  (Piegan) ;  Sasse- 
wuck  (Sarcee).  Cocking's  Journal  is  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany House,  London,  and  in  the  Canadian  Archives,  Ottawa. 

The  account  of  Heame's  Voyages  will  be  found  in  "Path- 
finders of  the  West,"  or  in  the  accounts  by  himself,  (i)  the  report 
submitted  to  the  H.  B.  C,  (2)  his  published  journals  in  French 
and  English,  of  which  I  used  the  French  edition  of  1799,  which 
is  later  and  fuller  than  either  his  report  to  the  H.  B.  C.  or  the 
English  book. 

•  I  find  the  beaver  receipts  of  this  period  as  follows: 

A.  F.  (Albany  Fort) 21,454 

M.  R.  (Moose) 8,860 

E.  M.  (East  Main) 7,626 

YF.  &  SF.  (York  &  Severn) 37, 861 

C.  R.  (Churchill) 9,400 

Churchill  and  York,  of  course,   included  the    inland   trade. 

In  1777,  the  minutes  record  the  dismissal  of  Thomas  Kelsey 
for  ill  behavior  at  P.  of  Wales  (Churchill);  the  last  of  Henry 
Kelsey's  line. 

386 


Extension  of  Trade  Toward  Labrador 


In  1779,  December,  the  warehouse  of  Lime  Street  was  burned 
and  all  the  records  without  which  this  history  could  not  have 
been  written — narrowly  escaped  destruction. 

In  1797,  communication  was  opened  by  way  of  London  with 
the  Russian  fur  traders  of  the  west  coast.  In  this  year,  too, 
95,000  beaver  was  the  total. 

The  sums  paid  to  ransom  the  officer,  ran  all  the  way  from 
;C6,ooo  to  j£4,ooo,  so  that  it  is  no  wonder,  though  receipts  were 
large,  there  were  no  dividends  this  year. 

I  find  in  the  minutes  of  1777,  Samuel  Heame  orders  ;£2o 
yearly  to  Sarah  La  Petite,  from  which  one  may  guess  that 
Samuel  had  personal  reasons  for  giving  such  a  black  picture  of 
Moses  Norton. 

In  1 780,  Andrew  Graham,  whose  journals  give  a  great  picture 
of  this  period,  asks  that  his  Indian  boy  be  sent  home. 

In  1782,  the  following  names,  famous  in  Manitoba  history, 
came  into  the  lists  of  the  officers  of  the  Company:  Clouston, 
Ballantine,  Linklater,  Spencer,  Sutherland,  Kipling,  Ross, 
Isbister,  Umfreville. 

It  was  in  1787  that  the  fearful  ravages  of  smallpox  reduced 
the  Indian  population.  This  year  of  plague  deserves  a  chapter 
by  itself,  but  space  forbids.  No  "black  death"  of  Europe  ever 
worked  more  terrible  woe  than  the  contagion  brought  back 
from  the  Missouri  by  wandering  Assiniboines. 

The  account  of  the  siege  of  Richmond  by  the  Eskimos  is 
taken  from  Pott's  report  to  the  Company.  A  copy  of  this  the 
Winnipeg  Free  Press  recently  published  as  a  letter.  The  de- 
scription of  Richmond  is  from  Captain  Coates'  account.  Strange 
that  this  Richmond  should  have  gone  back  to  the  state  of  deso- 
lation in  which  Coates  found  it.  It  was  Coates  who  named  all 
the  places  of  this  region. 

Nearly  every  great  mineral  discovery  of  America  was  pre- 
ceded by  the  predictions  of  the  fur  trader.  It  will  be  interesting 
to  watch  if  Heame's  copper  mine  is  ever  re-discovered. 

The  story  of  Ross  and  Tomson  and  Farrant,  I  found  first 
in  the  minutes  of  H.  B.  C.  House  and  then  in  Umfreville's  ac- 
count of  life  at  York. 

I  have  throughout  referred  to  Prince  of  Wales  Fort  as  Church- 
ill, as  the  constant  changing  of  names  confuses  the  reader. 

From  the  records  it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  the  post 
Whale  River  was  Little  Whale,  or  Great  Whale.  Judging  from 
the  fact  that  the  journey  was  performed  by  dog-sled  in  a  night, 
to  Richmond,  it  must  have  been  the  nearer  post. 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


I  have  not  referred  to  the  mistake  in  latitude  made  by  Hearne 
in  his  journey  North,  for  which  so  many  critics  censure  him.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  how  many  men  would  have  been 
in  a  condition  to  take  any  observation  at  all  after  a  week's 
sleepless  marching  and  the  horrors  of  the  massacre. 

Heame's  picture  will  be  found  in  "Pathfinders  of  the  West." 


388 


CHAPTER  XX 
1760-1810 

"the  coming  of  the  pedlars" — A  NEW  RACE  OF 
WOOD-ROVERS  THRONGS  TO  THE  NORTHWEST — 
BANDITS  OF  THE  WILDS  WAR  AMONG  THEM- 
SELVES— TALES  OF  BORDER  WARFARE,  WASSAIL 
AND  GRANDEUR — THE  NEW  NORTHWEST  COM- 
PANY CHALLENGES  THE  AUTHORITY  AND  FEU- 
DALISM OF  THE  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY 

LA  PEROUSE'S  raid  on  Churchill  and  York 
was  the  least  of  the  misfortunes  that  now 
beset  the  English  Adventurers.  Within 
a  year  from  the  French  victory,  the  English  prisoners 
had  been  ransomed  from  France  and  the  dismantled 
forts  were  rebuilt.  It  was  a  subtler  foe  that  menaced 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  Down  at  Abbittibbi, 
halfway  to  Quebec — in  at  Henley  House  and  Mar- 
tin's Falls  and  Osnaburg  House  on  the  way  from 
Albany  to  the  modern  Manitoba — up  the  Saskatche- 
wan, where  Cocking  and  Batts  and  Walker  held  the 
forts  for  trade — between  Churchill  and  Athabasca, 
where  Longmore  and  Ross  had  been  sent  on  Hearne's 
trail — yes,  even  at  the  entrance    to   the  Rockies, 

389 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

where  Mr.  Howse  and  the  astronomer  Turner  had 
found  a  pass  leading  from  the  headwaters  of  the 
Saskatchewan,  constantly  there  emerged  from  the 
woods,  or  swept  gayly  up  in  light  birch  canoes, 
strange  hunters,  wildwood  rovers,  free  lances,  men 
with  packs  on  their  backs,  who  knocked  nonchalantly 
at  the  gates  of  the  English  posts  for  a  night's  lodging 
and  were  eagerly  admitted  because  it  was  safer  to 
have  a  rival  trader  under  your  eye  than  out  among 
the  Indians  creating  bedlam  by  the  free  distribution 
of  rum. 

"Pedlars,"  the  English  called  these  newcomers, 
who  overran  the  sacred  territory  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  as  though  royal  charters  were  a  joke 
and  trading  monopolies  as  extinct  as  the  dodo.  It 
was  all  very  well  to  talk  of  the  rights  of  your  charter, 
but  what  became  of  your  rights  if  interlopers  stole 
them  while  you  talked  about  them?  And  what  was 
the  use  of  sending  men  to  drum  up  trade  and  bring 
Indians  down  to  the  bay  with  their  furs,  if  pedlars 
caught  the  Indians  halfway  down  at  portage,  carry- 
ing place  and  hunting  rendezvous,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  those  Indians  owed  the  English  for 
half-a-dozen  years'  outfit — rifled  away  the  best  of  the 
furs,  sometimes  by  the  free  distribution  of  rum, 
sometimes  by  such  seditious  talk  as  that  "the  Eng- 
lish had  no  rights  in  this  country  anyway  and  the 

390 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


Indians  were  fools  to  become  slaves  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company?" 

This  was  a  new  kind  of  challenge  to  feudalism. 
Sooner  or  later  it  was  bound  to  come.  The  ultimate 
umpire  of  all  things  in  life  is — Fact.  Was  the 
charter  valid  that  gave  this  empire  of  trade  to  a  few 
Englishmen,  or  was  it  buncombe?  "The  Pedlars" 
didn't  talk  about  their  rights.  They  took  them. 
That  was  to  be  supreme  test  of  the  English  Com- 
pany's rights.  Somebody  else  took  the  rights,  and 
there  were  good  reasons  why  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  did  not  care  to  bring  a  question  of  its 
rights  before  the  courts.  When  the  charter  was 
confirmed  by  act  of  Parliament  in  1697,  ^^  was  speci- 
fied for  only  seven  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period 
the  Company  did  not  seek  a  renewal.  Request  for 
renewal  would  of  itself  be  acknowledgment  of  doubt 
as  to  the  charter.  The  Company  preferred  "to  have 
and  to  hold,"  rather  than  risk  adverse  decision. 
They  contented  themselves  with  blocking  the  peti- 
tions of  rivals  for  trade  privileges  on  the  bay,  but  the 
eruption  of  these  wildwood  rovers — "The  French 
Canadian  Pedlars" — was  a  contingency  against 
which  there  seemed  to  be  no  official  redress. 

It  remained  only  for  the  old  Company  to  gird 
itself  to  the  fray — a  fight  with  bandits  and  free- 
booters and  raiders  in  a  region  where  was  law  of 

391 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

neither  God  nor  man.  Sales  had  fallen  to  a  paltry 
£2,000  a  year.  Dividends  stopped  altogether.  Value 
of  stock  fell  from  £250  to  £50.  The  Company  ad- 
vertised for  men — more  men.  Agents  scoured  the 
Orkneys  and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  for  recruits, 
each  to  sign  for  five  years,  a  bounty  of  £8  to  be  paid 
each  man.  Five  ships  a  year  sailed  to  the  bay. 
Three  hundred  *'patroons"  were  yearly  sent  into 
the  woods,  and  when  their  time  expired — strange  to 
relate — they  did  not  return  to  Scotland.  What  be- 
came of  them?  Letters  ceased  to  come  home.  In- 
quiries remained  unanswered.  The  wilderness  had 
absorbed  them  and  their  bones  lay  bleaching  on  the 
unsheltered  prairie  where  the  arrow  of  Indian  raider 
inspired  by  "the  Pedlars"  had  shot  them  as  they 
traversed  the  plains.  No  wonder  service  with  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  became  ill-omened  in  the 
Orkneys  and  the  Highlands !  In  spite  of  the  bounty 
of  £8  a  man,  their  agents  were  at  their  wits'  ends 
for  recruits. 

When  Hendry  had  gone  up  the  Saskatchewan  in 
1754,  he  had  seen  the  houses  of  French  traders. 
French  power  fell  at  Quebec  in  1759,  and  the  French 
wood-rovers  scattered  to  the  wilds;  but  when  Cock- 
ing went  up  the  Saskatchewan  in  1772,  what  was  his 
amazement  to  find  these  French  rovers  organized 
under  leadership  of  Scotch  merchants  from  Montreal 

392 


''The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


— Curry,  and  Frobisher,  and  McTavish,  and  Todd, 
and  McGill,  and  McGillivrays. 

Under  French  rule,  fur  trade  had  been  regulated 
by  license.  Under  English  rule  was  no  restriction. 
First  to  launch  out  from  Montreal  with  a  cargo  of 
goods  for  trade,  was  Alexander  Henry,  senior,  in 
1760.  From  the  Michilimackinac  region  and  west- 
ward, Henry  in  ten  years,  from  1765  to  1775,  brought 
back  to  Montreal  such  a  wealth  of  furs,  that  peltry 
trade  became  a  fever.  No  capital  was  needed  but 
the  capital  of  boundless  daring.  Montreal  merchants 
advanced  goods  for  trade.  One  went  with  the 
canoes  as  partner  and  commander.  Three  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  goods  constituted  a  load.  French- 
men were  engaged  as  hunters  and  voyageurs — eight 
to  a  canoe,  and  before  the  opening  of  the  century,  as 
many  as  five  hundred  canoes  yearly  passed  up  the 
Ottawa  from  Montreal  for  the  Pays  d'  en  Haul, 
west  of  Lake  Superior,  ten  and  twenty  canoes  in  a 
brigade.  In  this  way,  Thomas  Curry  had  gone 
from  Lake  Superior  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  Lake 
Winnipeg  up  the  Saskatchewan,  in  1766,  as  far  as 
the  Forks,  bribing  that  renegade  Louis  Primo,  to 
steal  the  furs  bought  by  Cocking  for  the  Hudson's 
Bay,  and  to  lead  the  brigade  on  down  to  Montreal. 
One  voyage  suflQced  to  yield  Curry  $50,000  clear, 
a  sum  that  was  considered  a  fortune  in  those  days, 

393 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  enabled  him  to  retire.  The  fur  fever  became 
an  epidemic,  a  mania.  James  Finlay  of  Montreal, 
in  1 77 1,  pushed  up  the  Saskatchewan  beyond  the 
Forks,  or  what  is  now  Prince  Albert.  Todd,  Mc- 
Gill  &  Company  outfitted  Joseph  and  Benjamin 
Frobisher  for  a  dash  north  of  the  Saskatchewan  in 
1772-5,  where,  by  the  luckiest  chance  in  the  world, 
they  met  the  Chippewyan  and  Athabasca  Indians 
on  their  way  to  Churchill  with  furs  for  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  The  Frobishers  struck  up  friend- 
ship with  "English  Chief" — leader  of  the  Indian 
brigades — plied  the  argument  of  rum  night  and  day, 
bade  the  Indians  ignore  their  debts  to  the  English 
company,  offered  to  outfit  them  for  the  next  year's 
hunt  and  bagged  the  entire  cargo  of  furs — such  an 
enormous  quantity  that  they  could  take  down  only 
half  the  cargo  that  year  and  had  to  leave  the  other 
half  cached,  to  the  everlasting  credit  of  the  Indian's 
honesty  and  discredit  of  the  white  man's.  Hence- 
forth, this  post  was  known  as  Portage  de  Traite.  It 
led  directly  from  the  Saskatchewan  to  the  Athabasca 
and  became  a  famous  meeting  place.  Portage  "of 
the  Stretched  Frog"  the  Indians  called  it,  for  the 
Frobishers  had  been  so  keen  on  the  trade  that  they 
had  taught  the  Indians  how  to  stretch  skins,  and 
the  Indians  had  responded  in  mischief  by  tacking  a 
stretched  frog  skin  on  the  door  of  the  cabin.    Push- 

394 


^^The  Coming  oj  the  Pedlars'' 


ing  yet  farther  toward  Athabasca,  the  Frobisher 
brothers  built  another  post  norwestward,  Isle  a  la 
Crosse,  on  an  island  where  the  Indians  met  for  the 
sport  of  lacrosse. 

Besides  the  powerful  house  of  McTavish,  Frob- 
isher, Todd,  McGill  and  McGillivray,  were  hosts 
of  lesser  traders  who  literally  peddled  their  goods  to 
the  Indians.  In  1778,  these  pedlars  pooled  their 
stock  and  outfitted  Peter  Pond  to  go  on  beyond  the 
Frobisher  posts  to  Athabasca.  Here,  some  miles 
south  of  the  lake,  Pond  built  his  fort.  Pond  was  a 
Boston  man  of  boundless  ambition  and  energy  but 
utterly  unscrupulous.  While  at  Athabasca,  he  heard 
from  the  Indians  rumors  of  the  Russian  fur  traders 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  he  drew  that  famous  map 
of  the  interior,  which  was  to  be  presented  to  the 
Empress  of  Russia.  He  seems  to  have  been  cherish- 
ing secret  designs  of  a  great  fur  monopoly. 

Fur  posts  sprang  up  on  the  waterways  of  the  West 
like  mushrooms.  Rum  flowed  like  water — 50,000 
gallons  a  year  "the  pedlars"  brought  to  the  Sas- 
katchewan from  Montreal.  Disorders  were  bound 
to  ensue.  At  Eagle  Hills  near  Battleford,  in  1780, 
the  drunken  Crees  became  so  obstreperous  in  their 
demands  for  more  liquor  that  the  three  terrified 
traders  cooped  up  in  their  house  tried  to  save  them- 
selves by  putting  laudanum  in  the  liquor.    An  Indian 

395 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  drugged  to  death.  The  sobered  Crees  sulky 
from  their  debauch,  arose  to  a  man,  rammed  the 
doors,  stabbed  the  three  whites  and  seven  half-breed 
traders  to  death,  burnt  the  fort  and  sent  coureurs 
running  from  tribe  to  tribe  across  the  prairie  to 
conspire  for  a  massacre  of  all  white  traders  in  the 
country.  Down  on  the  Assiniboine  at  what  is  now 
known  as  Portage  la  Prairie,  where  the  canoemen 
portaged  across  to  Lake  ISIanitoba  and  so  to  Lake 
Winnipeg  and  the  Saskatchewan,  were  three  strong 
trading  houses  under  two  men  called  Brice  and 
Boyer,  With  them  were  twenty-three  Frenchmen. 
Three  different  companies  had  their  rendezvous 
here.  The  men  were  scattered  in  the  three  houses 
and  off  guard  when  one  night  the  darkness  was  made 
hideous  by  the  piercing  war  cry  of  the  Assiniboines. 
Before  lights  could  be  put  out,  the  painted  warriors 
had  swooped  down  on  two  of  the  houses.  The 
whites  were  butchered  as  they  dashed  out — eleven 
men  in  as  many  seconds.  The  third  house  had 
warning  from  the  shots  at  the  others.  Brice  and 
Boyer  were  together.  Promptly,  lights  were  put  out, 
muskets  rammed  through  the  parchment  windows 
and  chinks  of  the  log  walls,  and  a  second  relay  of 
loaded  weapons  made  ready.  When  the  Assini- 
boines attempted  to  rush  the  third  house,  they  were 
met  with  a  solid  crash  of  musketry  that  mowed 

396 


*^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


down  some  thirty  warriors  and  gave  the  assailants 
pause.  With  checked  ardor,  the  Indians  retreated 
to  the  other  houses.  They  could  at  least  starve  the 
white  men  out,  but  the  white  men  wisely  did  not 
wait.  While  the  Assiniboines  rioted,  drunk  on  the 
booty  of  rum  in  the  captured  cabins,  Brice  ordered 
all  liquor  spilt  in  his  house.  Taking  what  peltries 
he  could,  abandoning  the  rest,  Brice  led  a  dash  for 
the  river.  Darkness  favored  the  fugitive  whites. 
Three  only  of  the  retreating  men  fell  under  the 
shower  of  random  arrows — Belleau,  Facteau,  La- 
chance.  Launching  canoes  with  whispers  and  muf- 
fling their  paddles,  the  white  men  rowed  all  night, 
hid  by  day,  and  in  three  days  were  safe  with  the 
traders  at  the  Forks,  or  what  is  now  Winnipeg. 

Up  at  Athabasca,  Pond,  the  indomitable,  was 
setting  a  bad  example  for  lawless  work.  Wadin 
was  his  partner;  Le  Sieur,  his  clerk.  No  greater 
test  of  fairness  and  manhood  exists  than  to  box  two 
men  in  a  house  ten  by  ten  in  the  wilderness,  with 
no  company  but  their  own  year  in,  year  out.  Pond 
was  for  doing  impossibles — or  what  seemed  impos- 
sibles at  that  day.  He  had  sent  two  traders  down 
Big  River  (the  MacKenzie)  as  far  as  Slave  Lake. 
The  Indians  were  furiously  hostile.  Wadin,  the 
Swiss  partner,  opposed  all  risks.  Lonely,  unstrung 
and  ill-natured,  Pond  conceived  that  hatred  for  his 

397 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

partner  which  men,  who  have  been  tied  too  close  to  an 
alien  nature,  know.  The  men  had  come  to  blows. 
One  night  the  quarrel  became  so  hot,  Le  Sieur  with- 
drew from  the  house.  He  had  gone  only  a  few 
steps  when  he  heard  two  shots.  Rushing  back,  he 
found  the  Swiss  weltering  in  his  blood  on  the  floor. 
"Be  off!  Never  let  me  see  your  face  again,"  shouted 
the  wounded  man,  catching  sight  of  Pond.  Those 
were  his  last  words.  It  is  a  terrible  commentary  on 
civilization  that  the  first  blood  shed  in  the  Athabasca 
was  that  of  a  white  man  slain  by  a  white  man;  but 
the  Athabasca  was  three  thousand  miles  away  from 
punishment  and  the  merry  game  had  only  begun. 
Later,  Pond  was  tried  for  this  crime,  but  acquitted 
in  Montreal. 

Roving  Assiniboines  had  visited  the  Mandanes 
of  the  Missouri,  this  year.  They  brought  back  with 
them  not  only  stolen  horses,  but  an  unknown,  un- 
seen horror — the  germ  of  smallpox — which  ran  like 
a  fiery  scourge  for  three  years,  from  Red  River  and 
the  Assiniboine  to  the  Rockies,  sweeping  off  two- 
thirds  of  the  native  population.  Camp  after  camp, 
tribe  after  tribe,  was  attacked  and  utterly  destroyed, 
leaving  no  monument  but  a  heap  of  bleaching  bones 
scraped  clean  by  the  wolves.  Tent  leather  flapped 
lonely  to  the  wind,  rotting  on  the  tepee  poles  where 
Death  had  spared  not  a  soul  of  a  whole  encampment. 

398 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


In  vain  the  maddened  Indians  made  ofiferings  to 
their  gods,  slew  their  children  to  appease  this  Death 
Demon's  wrath,  and  cast  away  all  their  belongings. 
Warriors  mounted  their  fleetest  horses  and  rode 
like  mad  to  outrace  the  Death  they  fancied  was  pur- 
suing them.  Delirious  patients  threw  themselves 
into  the  lakes  and  rivers  to  assuage  suffering.  The 
epidemic  was  of  terrible  virulence.  The  young  and 
middle-aged  fell  victims  most  readily,  and  many  aged 
parents  committed  suicide  rather  than  live  on,  bereft 
of  their  children.  There  was  an  end  to  all  conspiracy 
for  a  great  uprising  and  massacre  of  the  whites.  The 
whites  had  fled  before  the  scourge  as  terrified  as  were 
the  Indians  and  for  three  years  there  was  scarcely  a 
fur  trader  in  the  country  from  the  Missouri  to  the 
Saskatchewan. 

During  the  interval,  the  merchants  of  Montreal 
had  put  their  heads  together.  Division  and  inter- 
necine warfare  in  the  face  of  Indian  hostility  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  traders  steady  advancement  in- 
land, were  folly.  The  Montrealers  must  unite.  The 
united  traders  were  known  as  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany. The  Company  had  no  capital.  Montreal 
partners  who  were  merchants  outfitted  the  canoes 
with  goodis.  Men  experienced  in  the  trade  led  the 
brigades  westward.  The  former  gave  credit  for  goods, 
the  latter  time  on  the  field.    The  former  acted  as 

399 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

agents  to  sell  the  furs,  the  latter  as  wintering  partners 
to  barter  for  the  furs  with  the  Indians.  To  each 
were  assigned  equal  shares — a  share  apiece  to  each 
partner,  or  sixteen  shares  in  all,  in  the  first  place; 
later  increased  to  twenty  and  forty-six  and  ninety-six 
shares  as  the  Company  absorbed  more  and  more 
of  the  free  traders.  As  a  first  charge  against  the 
proceeds  were  the  wages  of  the  voyageurs — ^£ioo  a 
year,  five  times  as  much  as  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany paid  for  the  same  workers.  Then  the  cost  of 
the  goods  was  deducted — $3,000  a  canoe — and  in  the 
early  days  ninety  canoes  a  year  were  sent  North. 
Later,  when  the  Nor'Westers  absorbed  all  opposi- 
tion, the  canoes  increased  to  five  hundred.  The 
net  returns  were  then  divided  into  sixteen  parts  and 
the  profits  distributed  to  the  partners.  By  1787, 
shares  were  valued  at  ;;^8oo  each.  At  first,  net  re- 
turns were  as  small  as  ;^4o,ooo  a  year,  but  this  divi- 
dend among  only  sixteen  partners  gave  what  was 
considered  a  princely  income  in  those  days.  Later, 
net  returns  increased  to  £i'2o,ooo  and  1*^200,000,  but 
by  this  time  the  number  of  partners  was  ninety-six. 
Often  the  yearly  dividend  was  ;^4oo  a  share.  As 
many  as  200,000  beaver  were  sold  by  the  Nor'Westers 
in  a  year,  and  the  heaviest  buyer  of  furs  at  Montreal 
was  John  Jacob  Astor  of  New  York.  Chief  among 
the  Eastern  agents,  were  the  two  Frobisher  brothers, 

400 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


Benjamin  and  Joseph — McGill,  Todd,  Holmes,  and 
Simon  McTavish,  the  richest  merchant  of  Montreal, 
nicknamed  "the  Marquis"  for  his  pompous  air  of 
wearing  prosperity.  Chief  among  the  wintering 
partners  were  Peter  Pond,  the  American  of  Atha- 
basca fame,  the  McGillivrays,  nephews  of  McTavish; 
the  MacLeods,  the  Grants,  the  Camerons,  Mac- 
intoshes, Shaws,  McDonalds,  Finlays,  Erasers,  and 
Henry,  nephew  of  the  Henry  who  first  went  to 
Michilimackinac. 

Not  only  did  the  new  company  forthwith  send 
ninety  canoes  to  the  North  by  way  of  Lake  Superior, 
but  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  were  sent  through 
Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie  to  Detroit,  for  the  fur 
region  between  Lake  Huron  and  the  Mississippi. 
It  was  at  this  period  that  the  Canadian  Government 
was  besieged  for  a  monopoly  of  trade  west  of  Lake 
Superior,  in  return  for  which  the  Nor'Westers 
promised  to  explore  the  entire  region  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  When  the 
Government  refused  to  grant  the  monopoly,  the 
Nor'Westers  stopped  asking  for  rights.  They  pre- 
pared to  take  them. 

In  Montreal,  the  Nor'Westers  were  lords  in  the 
ascendant,  socially  and  financially,  living  with  lavish 
and  regal  hospitality,  keeping  one  strong  hand  on 
their  interests  in  the  West,  the  other  hand  on  the 

401 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

pulse  of  the  government.  Some  of  the  partners 
were  members  of  the  Assembly.  All  were  men  of 
public  influence,  and  when  a  wintering  partner  re- 
tired to  live  in  Montreal,  he  usually  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  governing  clique.  The  Beaver  Club  with 
the  appropriate  motto,  ''Fortitude  in  Distress,"  was 
the  partners'  social  rendezvous,  and  coveted  were 
the  social  honors  of  its  exclusive  membership.  Gov- 
ernors and  councillors,  military  heroes  and  foreign 
celebrities  counted  it  an  honor  to  be  entertained  at 
the  Beaver  Club  with  its  lavish  table  groaning  under 
weight  of  old  wines  from  Europe  and  game  from 
the  Pays  d^en  Haut.  "To  discuss  the  merits  of  a 
beaver  tail,  or  moose  nose,  or  bear's  paw,  or  bufifalo 
hump" — was  the  way  a  Nor'West  partner  invited  a 
guest  to  dinner  at  the  Beaver  Club,  and  I  would  not 
like  to  testify  that  the  hearty  partners  did  not  turn 
night  into  day  and  drink  themselves  under  the 
mahogany  before  they  finished  entertaining  a  guest. 
Most  lordly  of  the  grandees  was,  of  course,  "the 
Marquis,"  Simon  McTavish,  who  built  himself  a 
magnificent  manor  known  as  "the  Haunted  House," 
on  the  mountain.  He  did  not  live  to  enjoy  it  long, 
for  he  died  in  1804.  Indeed,  it  was  a  matter  of 
comment  how  few  of  the  ninety-six  partners  lived 
to  a  good  old  age  in  possession  of  their  hard-earned 
wealth. 

402 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


"No  wonder,"  sarcastically  commented  a  good 
bishop,  who  had  been  on  the  field  and  seen  how  the 
wealth  was  earned,  "when  the  devil  sows  the  seed, 
he  usually  looks  after  the  harvest." 

But  it  was  not  all  plain  sailing  from  the  formation 
of  the  Company.  Pond  and  Pangman,  the  two 
Boston  men,  who  had  been  in  the  North  when  the 
partnership  was  arranged,  were  not  satisfied  with 
their  shares.  Pond  was  won  over  to  the  Nor'Westers, 
but  Pangman  joined  a  smaller  company  with  Greg- 
ory, and  MacLeod,  and  Alexander  MacKenzie,  and 
Finlay.  MacKenzie,  who  was  to  become  famous 
as  a  discoverer,  was  sent  to  Isle  a  la  Crosse  to  inter- 
cept furs  on  the  way  to  Hudson  Bay.  Ross  was 
sent  up  to  oppose  Peter  Pond  of  the  Nor'Westers  in 
Athabasca.  Bostonnais  Pangman  went  up  the  Sas- 
katchewan to  the  Rockies,  with  headquarters  at 
what  is  now  Edmonton,  and  the  rest  of  what  were 
known  as  the  Little  Company  faithfully  dogged  the 
Nor'Westers'  footsteps  and  built  a  trading  house 
wherever  Indians  gathered. 

Failing  to  establish  a  monopoly  by  law,  the  Nor'- 
Westers set  themselves  to  do  it  without  law.  The 
Little  Company  must  be  exterminated.  Because 
Alexander  MacKenzie  later  became  one  of  the  Nor'- 
Westers, the  details  have  never  been  given  to  the 
public,  but  at  La  Crosse  where  he  waited  to  barter 

403 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

for  the  furs  coming  from  the  North  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay,  the  Nor'Westers  camped  on  his  trail.  The 
crisis  in  rivalry  was  to  meet  the  approaching  Indian 
brigades.  The  trader  that  met  them  first,  usually 
got  the  furs.  Spies  were  sent  in  all  directions  to 
watch  for  the  Indians,  and  spies  dogged  the  steps  of 
spies.  It  was  no  unusual  thing  for  one  side  to  find 
the  Indians  first  and  for  a  rival  spy  to  steal  the 
victory  by  bludgeoning  the  discoverer  into  uncon- 
sciousness or  treating  him  to  a  drink  of  drugged 
whiskey.  In  the  scuffle  and  maneuver  for  the  trade, 
one  of  Alexander  MacKenzie's  partners  was  mur- 
dered, another  of  his  men  lamed,  a  third  narrowly 
escaping  death  through  the  assassin's  bullet  being 
stopped  by  a  powderhorn ;  but  the  point  was  — 
MacKenzie  got  the  furs  for  the  Little  Company, 
The  Nor'Westers  were  beaten. 

Up  at  Athabasca,  Pond,  the  Nor'Wester  was  op- 
posed by  Ross,  the  Little  Company  man.  Heame, 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  had  been  to  Athabasca  first  of  all 
explorers,  but  Pond  was  the  first  of  the  ^lontreal 
men  to  reach  the  famous  fur  region  of  the  North, 
and  he  did  not  purpose  seeing  his  labors  filched  away 
by  the  Little  Company.  When  Laroux  brought  the 
Indians  from  Slave  Lake  to  the  Nor'Westers  and 
Ross  attempted  to  approach  them,  there  was  a 
scuflPie.    The  Little  Company  leader  fell  pierced  by 

404 


''The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


a  bullet  from  a  revolver  smoking  in  the  hand  of 
Peter  Pond.  Did  Pond  shoot  Ross?  Was  it  acci- 
dental? These  questions  can  never  be  answered. 
This  was  the  second  murder  for  which  Pond  was 
responsible  in  the  Athabasca,  and  ill-omened  news 
of  it  ran  like  wildfire  south  to  Isle  a  la  Crosse  and 
Portage  de  Traite  where  Alexander  MacKcnzie  and 
his  cousin  Roderick  were  encamped.  Nor'Westers 
and  Little  Company  men  alike  were  shocked.  For 
the  Montreal  men  to  fight  among  themselves  meant 
alienation  of  the  Indians  and  victory  for  the  Hud- 
son's Bay.  Roderick  MacKenzie  of  the  Little  Com- 
pany and  William  McGillivray  of  the  Nor'Westers 
decided  to  hasten  down  to  Montreal  with  the  sum- 
mer brigades  and  urge  a  union  of  both  organizations. 
Locking  canoes  abreast,  with  crews  singing  in  unison, 
the  rival  leaders  set  out  together,  and  the  union  was 
effected  in  1787  by  the  Nor'Westers  increasing  their 
shares  to  admit  all  the  partners  of  the  Gregory  and 
MacKenzie  concern.  Pond  sold  his  interests  to  the 
MacGillivrays  and  retired  to  Boston. 

The  strongest  financial,  social  and  political  inter- 
ests of  Eastern  Canada  were  now  centered  in  the 
Northwest  Company.  There  were  ways  of  dis- 
couraging independent  merchants  from  sending 
pedlars  to  the  North.  Boycott,  social  or  financial, 
the  pulling  of  political  strings  that  withheld  a  gov- 

405 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ernment  passport,  a  hint  that  if  the  merchant  wanted 
a  hand  in  the  trade  it  would  be  cheaper  for  him  to 
pool  his  interests  with  the  Nor'Westers  than  risk  a 
$3,000  load  on  his  own  account — kept  the  field  clear 
or  brought  about  absorption  of  all  rivals  till  1801. 
Then  a  Dominique  Rousseau  essayed  an  independ- 
ent venture  led  by  his  clerk,  Hervieux.  Grand 
Portage  on  Lake  Superior  was  the  halfway  post 
between  Montreal  and  the  Pays  d'en  Haul  —  the 
metropolis  of  the  Nor'Westers'  domain.  Here  came 
Hervieux's  brigade  and  pitched  camp  some  hundred 
yards  away  from  the  Nor'West  palisades.  Hardly 
had  Hervieux  landed  when  there  marched  across 
to  him  three  officers  of  the  Northwest  Company,  led 
by  Duncan  McGillivray,  who  ordered  the  new- 
comers to  be  off  on  pain  of  death,  as  all  the  land 
here  was  Northwest  property.  Hervieux  stood  his 
ground  stoutly  as  a  British  subject  and  demanded 
proof  that  the  country  belonged  to  the  Northwest 
Company.  To  the  Nor'Westers,  such  a  demand 
was  high  treason.  McGillivray  retorted  he  would 
send  proof  enough.  The  partners  withdrew,  but 
there  sallied  out  of  the  fort  a  party  of  the  famous 
Northwest  bullies — prize  fighters  kept  in  trim  for 
the  work  in  hand.  Drawing  knives,  they  cut  Herv- 
ieux's tents  to  shreds,  scattered  his  merchandise  to 
the  four  winds  and  bedrubbed  the  little  men,  who 

406 


''''The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


tried  to  defend  it,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  school 
boys. 

"You  demand  our  title  to  possession?  You  want 
proofs  that  we  hold  this  country?  Eh?  Bien! 
Voila!  There's  proof!  Take  it;  but  if  you  dare 
to  go  into  the  interior,  there  will  be  more  than  tents 
cut!    Look  out  for  your  throats." 

Totally  ruined,  Hervieux  was  compelled  to  go 
back  to  Montreal,  where  his  master  in  vain  sued  the 
Nor'Westers.  The  Nor'Westers  were  not  respon- 
sible. It  was  plain  as  day:  they  had  not  ordered 
those  bullies  to  come  out,  and  those  bullies  were  a 
matter  of  three  thousand  miles  away  and  could  not 
be  called  as  witnesses. 

Determined  not  to  be  beaten,  Rousseau  attempted 
a  second  venture  in  1806,  this  time  two  canoes  under 
fearless  fellows  led  by  one  Delorme,  who  knew  the 
route  to  the  interior.  He  instructed  Delorme  to 
avoid  clashing  with  the  Nor'Westers  by  skirting 
round  their  headquarters  on  Lake  Superior,  if 
necesssary  by  traveling  at  night  till  beyond  de- 
tection. Delorme  was  four  days'  march  beyond 
Lake  Superior  when  Donald  McKay,  a  Nor'Wester, 
suddenly  emerged  from  the  underbrush  leading  a 
dozen  wood-rovers.  Not  a  word  was  said.  No 
threats.  No  blustering.  This  was  a  no-man's- 
land  where  there  was  no  law  and  everyone  could  do 

407 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

as  he  liked.  McKay  liked  to  do  a  very  odd  thing 
just  at  this  juncture,  just  at  this  place.  His  bush- 
lopers  hurried  on  down  stream  in  advance  of  De- 
lorme's  canoes  and  leveled  a  veritable  barricade  of 
trees  across  the  trail.  Then  they  went  to  the  rear 
of  Delorme  and  leveled  another  barricade.  Delorme 
didn't  attempt  to  out-maneuver  his  rivals.  At  most 
he  had  only  sixteen  men,  and  that  kind  of  a  game 
meant  a  free  fight  and  on  one  side  or  the  other — 
murder.  He  sold  out  both  his  cargoes  to  McKay 
at  prices  current  in  Montreal,  and  retreated  from  the 
fur  country,  leaving  the  sardonic  Nor'Westers  smiling 
in  triumph.  These  were  some  of  the  ways  by  which 
the  Nor'Westers  dissuaded  rivals  from  invading 
the  Pays  d'en  Haul.  On  their  part,  they  probably 
justified  their  course  by  arguing  that  rivalry  w^ould 
at  once  lead  to  such  murders  as  those  in  the  Atha- 
basca. In  their  secret  councils,  they  well  knew  that 
they  were  keeping  small  rivals  from  the  field  to  be 
free  for  the  fight  against  the  greatest  rival  of  all — 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

Footnote  to  Chapter  XX. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are 
taken  primarily  from  the  records  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  House; 
secondarily,  from  the  Journals  of  the  Nor'West  partners  as 
published  by  Senator  Masson,  Prof.  Coues,  and  others;  also, 
and  most  important,  from  such  old  missionary  annals  as  those 
of  the  Oblates  and  other  missionaries  like  Abbe  Dugas,  Tass^, 
Grandin,  Provencher  and  others.  In  the  most  of  cases,  the 
missionary  writer  was  not  himself  the  actor  (there  are  two  ex- 
ceptions to  this)  but  he  was  in  direct  contact  with  the  living 

408 


"T/ie  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


actor  and  took  his  facts  on  the  spot,  so  that  his  testimony  is 
even  more  non-partisan  than  the  carefully  edited  Masson  essay 
and  records.  I  consider  these  various  missionary  legends  the 
most  authentic  source  of  the  history  of  the  period,  though  their 
evidence  is  most  damning  to  both  sides.  Ihese  annals  are  ex- 
clusively published  by  Catholic  organizations  and  so  unfor- 
tunately do  not  reach  the  big  public  of  which  they  are  deserving. 

The  exact  way  in  which  the  N.  W.  C.  was  formed,  I  found 
very  involved  in  the  Masson  essay.  A  detailed  account  of  all 
steps  in  the  organization  is  very  plainly  given  in  the  petitions 
of  the  Frobisher  Brothers,  Peter  Pond  and  McGill  to  Gov.  Haldi- 
mand  for  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade.  The  petitions  are  in  the 
Canadian  Archives.  A  curious  fear  is  revealed  in  all  these  peti- 
tions— that  the  Americans  may  reach  and  possess  the  Pacific 
Coast  first.  As  a  matter  of  fact  that  is  exactly  what  Grey  and 
Lewis  and  Clarke  did  in  the  Oregon  region. 

From  the  H.  B.  C.  Archives  I  find  the  following  data  on  this 
era:  Batts  and  Walker  and  Peter  Fidler  held  the  mouth  of  the 
Saskatchewan  for  the  English;  one  Goodwin  worked  south 
from  Albany  almost  to  Lake  Superior  and  west  to  modem 
Manitoba;  half  a  dozen  French  run-aways  from  the  N.  W.  C. 
were  engaged  as  spies  at  ;Cioo  a  year;  the  Martin  Falls  House 
is  built  inland  from  Albany  in  1782;  in  spite  of  ignominious 
surrender,  Heame  and  Humphrey  Martin  go  back  as  Governors 
of  Churchill  and  York;  Edward  Umfreville  leaves  the  H.  B.  C. 
(wages  ;£i4i)  and  joins  the  N.  W.  C. ;  Martin  and  Heame,  La 
Perouse's  prisoners,  were  dropped  at  Stromness  in  November, 
whether  on  the  way  to  France  or  back  from  France,  I  can't  tell; 
their  letters  do  not  reach  the  H.  B.  C.  till  March,  1783;  William 
Paulson  is  surgeon  at  East  Main;  no  dividends  from  1782  to 
1786;  Joseph  Colen  succeeds  Martin  at  York  in  '86;  William 
Auld  succeeds  Heame  at  Churchill  in  '96;  James  Hourie  is 
massacred  by  the  Indians  of  East  Main;  H.  B.  C.  servants  from 
the  growing  dangers  become  mutinous,  six  are  fined  at  East 
Main  for  mutiny;  four  at  York  fined  £4  each,  namely  Magnus 
Tait,  Alex.  Gunn,  John  Irvine,  Benj.  Bruce,  two  at  Churchill 
;£2o  each,  Robert  Pexman  and  Henry  Hodges.  Andrew  Gra- 
ham, the  old  factor  of  Severn,  being  now  destitute  at  Edinburg, 
is  given  thirty  guineas  in  1801. 


409 


CONTENTS   OF   VOLUME   II 

PART  III— {Continued) 
CHAPTER    XXI 

PAOB 

"The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars"  {continued) — Voyage  up  to 
Fort  William,  Life  of  Wild-wood  Wassail  and  Grandeur 
There — How  the  Wintering  Partners  Exploited  in  the 
Pays  D'en  Haut      .......       3 

CHAPTER    XXII 

"The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars"  {continued) — Henry's  Adven- 
tures at  Pembina — The  First  White  Woman  in  the  West 
— A  Stolen  Child  and  a  Poisoner  and  a  Scout — How 
Harmon  Found  a  Wife — The  Story  of  Marguerite  Trot- 
tier         .........     26 

CHAPTER    XXIII 

"The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars"  {continued) — Thirty  years  of 
Exploration — The  Advance  up  the  Saskatchewan  to 
Bow  River  and  Howse  Pass — ^The  Building  of  Edmon- 
ton— How  MacKenzie  Crossed  the  Pacific  .  .  -47 

CHAPTER    XXIV 

"The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars"  {continued) — MacKenzie  and 
McTavish  Quarrel — The  Nor'westers  Invade  Hudson 
Bay  Waters  and  Challenge  the  Charter — Ruffianism  of 
Nor'westers — Murder  and  Boycott  of  Hudson's  Bay 
Men — Up-to-date  Commercialism  as  Conducted  in 
Terms  ot  a  Club  and  Without  Law  .  .  .68 

CHAPTER    XXV 

David  Thompson,  the  Nor'wester,  Dashes  for  the  Columbia 
— He  Explores  East  Kootenay.  but  Finds  Astor's  Men 
on  the  Field — How  the  Astorians  are  Jockeyed  out  of 
Astoria — Fraser  Finds  His  Way  to  the  Sea  by  Another 
Great  River 81 


Contents 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

PAGE 

The  Coming  of  the  Colonists — Lord  Selkirk  Buys  Control 
of  the  H.  B.  C. — Simon  M'Gillivray  and  MacKenzie 
Plot  to  Defeat  Him — Robertson  Says  "Fight  Fire  with 
Fire"  and  Selkirk  Chooses  a  M'Donell  Against  a 
M'Donell — The  Colonists  Come  to  Red  River — Riot 
and  Plot  and  Mutiny       .  .  .  .  .  .113 

CHAPTER    XXVII 

The  Coming  of  the  Colonists  {continued) — MacDonell 
Attempts  to  Carry  Out  the  Rights  of  Feudalism  on 
Red  River — Nor'westers  Resent — The  Colony  De- 
stroyed and  Dispersed — Selkirk  to  the  Rescue — 
Lajimoniere's  Long  Voyage — Clarke  in  Athabasca       .    141 

CHAPTER    XXVIII 

The  Coming  of  the  Colonists  (contintied) — Governor  Semple 
and  Twenty  Colonists  are  Butchered  at  Seven  Oaks — 
Selkirk  to  the  Rescue  Captures  Fort  William  and 
Sweeps  the  Nor'westers  from  the  Field — The  Suffering 
of  the  Settlers — At  Last  Selkirk  Sees  the  Promised 
Land  at  Red  River  .  .  .  .  .  .166 

CHAPTER    XXIX 

Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash  to  Capture  Athabasca  Whence 
Came  the  Most  Valuable  Furs — Robertson  Overland  to 
Montreal,  Tried  and  Acquitted,  Leads  a  Brigade  to 
Athabasca — He  is  Tricked  by  the  Nor'westers,  but 
Tricks  Them  in  Turn — The  Union  of  the  Companies — 
Sir  George  Simpson,  Governor  ....   202 


PART  IV 
CHAPTER    XXX 

Reconstruction  (continued) — Nicholas  Garry,  the  Deputy 
Governor,  Comes  Out  to  Reorganize  the  United  Com- 
panies— More  Colonists  from  Switzerland — The  Rocky 
Mountain  Brigades — Ross  of  Okanogan       .  .  .    23S 

vi 


Contents 


CHAPTER    XXXI 

PAOB 

Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden,  Explorer  and  Fur  Trader, 
Over  the  Regions  now  Known  as  Washington,  Oregon, 
California,  Idaho,  Montana,  Nevada  and  Utah — He 
Relieves  Ashley's  Men  of  10,000  Beaver — He  Finds 
Nevada — He  Discovers  Mt.  Shasta — He  Tricks  the 
Americans  at  Salt  Lake   .  .  .  .  ,  .261 


CHAPTER    XXXII 

McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire  {continued) — Douglas' 
Adventures  in  New  Caledonia,  How  He  Punishes  Mur- 
der and  is  Himself  Almost  Murdered — Little  Yale  of 
the  Lower  Fraser — Black's  Death  at  Kamloops — How 
Tod  Outwits  Conspiracy — The  Company's  Operations 
in  California  and  Sandwich  Islands  and  Alaska — Why 
did  Rae  Kill  Himself  in  San  Francisco? — The  Secret 
Diplomacy      ........   304 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 

The  Passing  of  the  Company — The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 
to  Oregon — The  Founding  of  Victoria  North  of  the 
Boundary — Why  the  H.  B.  C.  Gave  Up  Oregon — Mis- 
rule of  Vancouver  Island — McLoughlin  s  Retirement  .  352 


CHAPTER    XXXIV 
The  Passing  of  the  Company  .  .  .  .  .  •3^7 


Vll 


PART   III— Continued 


THE   CONQUEST   OF 
THE   GREAT   NORTHWEST 


THE    CONQUEST    OF 
THE    GREAT    NORTHWEST 

CHAPTER  XXI 

1760-1810 

'the  coming  of  the  pedlars"  continued — 
voyage  up  to  fort  william,  life  of  wild- 
wood  wassail  and  grandeur  there — how 
the  wintering  partners  exploited  the 
northwest — tales  of  the  winterers  in  the 

PAYS  d'EN  HAUT 

IT  WAS  no  easier  for  the  Nor'Westers  to  obtain 
recruits  than  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany. French  habitants  were  no  more  anx- 
ious to  have  their  heads  broken  in  other  men's 
quarrels  than  the  Orkneymen  of  the  Old  Country; 
but  the  Nor'Westers  managed  better  than  the  Hud- 
son's Bay.  Brigades  were  made  up  as  the  ice  cleared 
from  the  rivers  in  May.  For  weeks  before,  the 
Nor'Westers  had  been  craftily  at  work.  No  agents 
were  sent  to  the  country  parishes  with  clumsy  offers 

3 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

of  £8  bounty,  which  would  be,  of  itself,  acknowledg- 
ment of  danger.  Companies  don't  pay  ;!^8  bounty 
for  nothing.  Not  agents  were  sent  to  the  parishes, 
but  "sly  old  wolves  of  the  North" — as  one  parish 
priest  calls  these  demoralizers  of  his  flock — ^went 
from  village  to  village,  gay,  reckless,  daredevil 
veterans,  old  in  service,  young  in  years,  clothed  in  all 
the  picturesque  glory  of  beaded  buckskin,  plumed 
hats,  silk  sashes,  to  tickle  the  vanity  of  the  poor 
country  bucks,  who  had  never  been  beyond  their 
own  hamlet.  Cocks  of  the  walk,  bullies  of  the  town, 
slinging  money  around  like  dust,  spinning  yarns 
marvelous  of  fortune  made  at  one  coup,  of  adven- 
tures in  which  they  had  been  the  heroes,  of  freedom 
— freedom  like  kings  to  rule  over  the  Indian  tribes — 
these  returned  voyageurs  lounged  in  the  taverns, 
played  the  gallants  at  all  the  hillside  dances,  flirted 
with  the  daughters,  made  presents  to  the  mothers, 
and  gave  to  the  youth  of  the  parish  what  the  priest 
describes  as  "dizziness  of  the  head."  It  needed 
only  a  little  maneuvering  for  our  "sly  wolves  of  the 
North"  to  get  themselves  lionized,  the  heroes  of 
the  parish.  Dances  were  given  in  their  honor.  The 
contagion  invaded  even  the  sacred  fold  of  the  church. 
The  "sons  of  Satan"  maneuvered  so  well  that  the 
holy  festivals  even  seemed  to  revolve  round  their 
person  as  round  a  sun  of  glory.     The  cure  might 

4 


^*The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars^* 

preach  himself  black  in  the  face  proving  that  a 
camp  on  the  sand  and  a  bed  a  la  belle  etoile,  under 
the  stars,  are  much  more  poetic  in  the  telHng  than 
in  life;  that  voyageurs  don't  pass  all  their  lives 
clothed  in  picturesque  costumes  chanting  ditties  to 
the  rhythmic  dip  of  paddle  blades;  that,  in  fact, 
when  your  voyageur  sets  out  in  spring  he  passes  half 
his  time  in  ice  water  to  mid-waist  tracking  canoes 
up  rapids,  and  that  where  the  portage  is  rocky  glassed 
with  ice,  you  can  follow  the  sorry  fellow's  path  by 
blood  from  the  cuts  in  his  feet. 

What  did  the  cure  know  about  it?  There  was 
proof  to  the  contrary  in  the  gay  blade  before  their 
eyes,  and  the  green  country  bucks  expressed  timid 
wish  that  they,  too,  might  lead  such  a  life.  Presto! 
No  sooner  said  than  done !  My  hero  from  the  North 
jerks  a  written  contract  all  ready  for  the  signature  of 
names  and  slaps  down  half  the  wages  in  advance 
before  the  dazzled  greenhorns  have  time  to  retract. 
From  now  till  the  brigades  depart  our  green  recruit 
busies  himself  playing  the  hero  before  he  has  won 
his  spurs.  He  dons  the  gay  vesture  and  he  dons 
the  grand  air  and  he  passes  the  interval  in  a  glorious 
oblivion  of  all  regrets  drowned  in  potions  at  the 
parish  inn;  but  it  is  our  drummer's  business  to 
round  up  the  recruits  at  Montreal,  which  he  does 
as  swiftly  as  they  sober  up.    And  they  usually  sober 

5 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

>  I  ...  I— I    ■■■    . 

up  to  j&nd  that  all  the  advance  wages  have  melted  in 
the  public  house.  No  drawing  back  now,  though 
the  rosy  hopes  have  faded  drab!  A  hint  at  such  a 
thought  brings  down  on  the  poltroon's  head  threats 
of  instant  imprisonment — a  fine  ending,  indeed,  to 
all  the  brag  and  the  boast  and  the  brass-band  flourish 
with  which  our  runaway  has  left  his  native  parish. 
Crews  and  canoes  assemble  above  Lachine,  nine 
miles  from  Montreal,  ninety  or  one  hundred  canoes 
with  eight  men  to  each,  including  steersman,  and  a 
pilot  to  each  ten  canoes.  Thirty  or  forty  guides 
there  will,  perhaps,  be  to  the  yearly  brigade — men 
who  lead  the  way  and  prevent  waste  of  time  by  fol- 
lowing wrong  water  courses.  And  it  is  a  picturesque 
enough  scene  to  stir  the  dullest  blood,  spite  of  all 
the  cure's  warning.  Voyageurs  and  hunters  are 
dressed  in  buckskin  with  gayest  of  silk  bands  round 
hair  and  neck.  Partners  are  pompous  in  ruffles  and 
lace  and  gold  braid,  with  brass-handled  pistols  and 
daggers  in  belt.  In  each  canoe  go  the  cargoes — two- 
thirds  merchandise,  one-third  provisions — oilcloth 
to  cover  it,  tarpaulin  for  a  tent,  tow  lines,  bark  and 
gum  for  repairs,  kettles,  dippers  and  big  sponges  to 
bail  out  water.  As  the  canoes  are  loaded,  they  are 
launched  and  circle  about  on  the  river  waiting  for 
the  signal  of  the  head  steersman.  The  chief  steers- 
man's steel-shod  pole  is  held  overhead.    It  drops — 

6 


**  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars  '* 

five  hundred  paddles  dip  as  with  one  arm,  and  there 
shoots  out  from  the  ninety-foot  canoes  the  small, 
narrow,  swift  craft  of  the  partners,  racing  ahead  to 
be  at  the  rendezvous  before  the  cargoes  arrive. 
Freight  packers  ashore  utter  a  shout  that  makes  the 
echoes  ring.  The  voyageurs  strike  up  a  song.  The 
paddles  dip  to  the  time  of  the  song.  The  deep- 
throated  chorus  dies  away  in  echo.  The  life  of  the 
Pays  (Pen  Haul  has  begun. 

Ste.  Anne's — the  patron  saint  of  canoemen — is  the 
last  chapel  spire  they  will  see  for  many  a  year.  The 
canoemen  cross  themselves  in  prayer.  Then  the 
Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains  comes,  and  the  Long 
Sault  Rapids  and  the  Chaudiere  Falls,  of  what  is  now 
Ottawa  City,  and  the  Chat  Rapids  and  thirty-six 
other  portages  in  the  four  hundred  miles  up  the 
Ottawa  from  Montreal,  each  portage  being  reckoned 
as  many  "pipes"  long  as  the  voyageur  smokes,  when 
carrying  the  cargo  overland  in  ninety-pound  packs 
on  his  back.  Leaving  the  Mattawa  at  the  head- 
waters of  the  Ottawa,  the  brigades  strike  westward 
for  the  Great  Lakes,  down  stream  through  Nipissing 
Lake  and  French  River  to  Lake  Huron ;  easier  going 
now  with  the  current  and  sheer  delight  once  the 
canoes  are  out  on  the  clear  waters  of  the  lake,  where 
if  the  wind  is  favorable,  blankets  are  hoisted  for  a 
sail  and  the  canoes  scud  across  to  the  Sault.    But  it  is 

7 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

not  always  easy  going.  Where  French  River  comes 
out  of  Nipissing  Lake,  ten  crosses  mark  where 
voyageurs  have  found  a  watery  grave,  and  sometimes 
on  the  lake  the  heavily  laden  canoes  are  working 
straight  against  a  head  wind  that  sends  choppy 
waves  ice-cold  slapping  into  their  laps  till  oilcloth 
must  be  bound  round  the  prow  to  keep  from  ship- 
ping water  where  a  wave-crest  dips  over  and  the 
canoe  has  failed  to  climb.  Even  mounting  the  waves 
and  keeping  the  gun'els  clear  of  the  wash,  at  every 
paddle  dip  the  spray  splashes  the  voyageur  to  his 
waist.  The  "old  wolves"  smoke  and  say  nothing. 
The  bowman  bounces  back  athwart  so  that  the  prow 
will  lighten  and  rise  to  the  climbing  wave,  but  the 
green  hands — the  gay  dons  who  left  home  in  such 
a  flush  of  glory — mutter  ^^c'est  la  misere,  c'est  la 
misere,  mon  bourgeois,''^  bourgeois  being  the  habi- 
tant's name  for  the  partners  of  the  Company;  and 
misery  it  is,  indeed,  if  ice  glasses  the  canoe  and  the 
craft  becomes  frost-logged.  They  must  land  then 
and  repair  the  canoe  where  the  bark  has  been  jagged, 
new  bark  being  gummed  on  where  the  cuts  are  deep, 
resin  and  tar  run  along  all  fissures.  And  these 
Nor'Westers  are  very  wolves  for  time.  Repairs 
must  be  done  by  torchlight  at  night.  In  fair  weather, 
the  men  sleep  on  the  sand.  In  bad  weather,  tar- 
paulin is  put  up  as  a  wind-break.    Reveille  is  sounded 

8 


**  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars*' 

at  first  dawn  streak — a  bugle  call  if  a  partner  is  in 
camp,  a  shout  from  the  chief  steersman  if  the  bri- 
gades have  become  scattered — "Leve!  Level"  By 
four  in  the  morning,  canoes  are  again  on  the  water. 
At  eight,  the  brigades  land  for  breakfast.  If  weather 
be  favorable  for  speed,  they  will  not  pause  for  mid- 
day meal  but  eat  a  snack  of  biscuit  or  pemmican  as 
they  run  across  the  portages.  Night  meal  comes 
when  they  can  see  to  go  no  farther,  and  often  relays 
of  paddles  are  put  on  and  the  brigades  paddle  all 
night.  The  men  have  slim  fare — grease  and  barley 
meal  and  pemmican,  and  the  greenhorns  frequently 
set  up  such  a  wail  for  the  pork  diet  of  the  home  table 
that  they  become  known  as  the  '^mangeurs  de  lard" 
'Uhe  pork  eaters,"  between  Montreal  and  Lake 
Superior,  or  "the  comers  and  goers,"  because  the 
men  on  this  part  of  the  voyage  to  the  Up  Country 
are  freighters  constantly  coming  and  going.  At  each 
fresh  portage  the  new  hand  must  stand  for  treats  to 
his  comrades,  or  risk  a  ducking,  or  prove  himself  a 
better  wrestler  than  they.  At  the  hardest  places 
and  the  hardest  pace,  the  bourgeois  unbends  and 
gives  his  men  a  rigale,  which  means  rum. 

The  Sault  at  the  west  side  of  Lake  Huron  leading 
up  to  Lake  Superior  is  the  last  military  post — the 
outermost  reach  of  the  law's  arm.  Beyond  the 
Sault — as  the  priests  had  warned — is  law  of  neither 

9 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

God  nor  man.  Beyond  the  Sault,  letters  from  home 
friends  to  the  voyageurs  bear  the  significant  address, 
"Wherever  He  May  Be  Founds 

At  the  Sault  on  the  north  side,  the  Nor' Westers 
constructed  a  canal  with  locks,  for  they  had  two 
sailing  vessels  patrolling  the  lakes — The  Otter  and 
The  Beaver — one  bound  for  the  Detroit  trade,  the 
other  from  the  Sault  across  Lake  Superior.  As  the 
superstitious  half-breeds  passed  from  the  Sault  to 
Lake  Superior,  it  was  an  Indian  custom  to  drop  an 
arrow  on  the  shore  as  an  offering  to  keep  the  devil 
from  doing  them  harm  on  the  boisterous  waters  of 
Lake  Superior.  Many  a  canoe  was  swamped  by 
head  winds  crossing  Lake  Superior.  To  avoid  risk, 
the  brigades  skirted  close  to  the  north  shore,  till  they 
came  to  the  Company's  headquarters  at  Fort  William, 
formerly  known  as  Grand  Portage. 

Grand  Portage  was  eighteen  hundred  miles  from 
Montreal  and  lay  at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  the  buildings 
engirt  by  eighteen-foot  palisades.  It  was  here  rival 
traders  were  usually  stopped.  When  the  Montreal 
merchants  first  went  to  the  Northwest,  their  head- 
quarters had  been  Michilimacinac,  but  this  was  too 
close  to  rival  traders.  The  Frobishers  and  Mc- 
Gillivrays  and  McTavishes  decided  to  seek  some 
good  location  on  the  north  shore  of  the  lake  leading 
directly  to  the  Up   Country.     Grand  Portage  on 

lO 


**  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars** 

Pigeon  River  leading  up  to  the  height  of  land  drained 
by  Rainy  River,  was  chosen  for  the  fort,  but  when  the 
American  Boundary  was  specified  by  treaty,  it  was 
found  that  Grand  Portage  was  in  foreign  territory. 
The  partners  looked  for  an  eastern  site  that  would 
still  be  on  waterways  leading  toward  Rainy  River. 
The  very  year,  1785,  that  the  Nor' Westers  had 
petitioned  the  government  for  monopoly,  they  sent 
voyageurs  seeking  such  a  site.  The  man  who  led 
the  voyageurs  was  that  Edward  Umfreville,  who  had 
been  captured  by  the  French  on  Hudson  Bay,  in 
1782,  and  had  now  come  to  join  the  Nor' Westers. 
Umfreville  found  a  chain  of  waterways  leading  up 
from  Lake  Superior  to  Lake  Nipigon  and  from  Nip- 
igon  west  to  Winnipeg  River,  but  later,  in  1797, 
Roderick  MacKenzie  found  the  trail  of  the  fur  traders 
in  the  old  French  regime — by  way  of  Kaministiquia; 
and  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kaministiquia  headquarters 
were  moved  by  1800,  and  the  post  named  Fort 
William  in  honor  of  that  William  McGillivray  who 
had  bought  out  Peter  Pond. 

The  usual  slab-cut  palisades  surrounded  the  fort. 
In  the  center  of  the  square  stood  the  main  building 
surmounted  by  a  high  balcony.  Inside  was  the 
great  saloon  or  hall — sixty  feet  by  thirty — decorated 
with  paintings  of  the  leading  partners  in  the  full  flush 
of  ruffles  and  court  costume.    Here  the  partners 

II 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  clerks  and  leading  guides  took  their  meals. 
Round  this  hall  were  the  partners'  bedrooms;  in 
the  basement,  the  kitchen.  Flanking  the  walls  of 
the  courtyard  were  other  buildings  equally  large 
— the  servants'  quarters,  storehouses,  warerooms, 
clerks'  lodgings.  The  powder  magazine  was  of  stone 
roofed  with  tin  with  a  lookout  near  the  roof  com- 
manding a  view  of  the  lake.  There  was  also  a  jail 
which  the  voyageurs  jocularly  called  their  pot  au 
beurre,  or  butter  tub.  The  physician.  Doctor  Mc- 
Loughlin,  a  young  student  of  Laval,  Quebec,  who 
had  been  forced  to  flee  west  for  pitching  a  drunken 
British  officer  of  Quebec  Citadel  on  his  head  in  the 
muddy  streets,  had  a  house  to  himself  near  the  gate. 
Over  the  gate  was  a  guardhouse,  where  sentry  sat 
night  and  day.  Inside  the  palisades  was  a  popula- 
tion of  from  twelve  hundred. to  two  thousand  people. 
Outside  the  fort  a  village  of  little  log  houses  had 
scattered  along  the  river  front.  Here  dwelt  the 
Indian  families  of  the  French  voyageurs. 

Here,  then,  came  the  brigades  from  Montreal — 
seven  hundred,  and  one  thousand  strong,  preceded 
by  the  swift-traveling  partners  whose  annual  meet- 
ing was  held  in  July.  A  great  whoop  welcomed  the 
men  ashore  and  they  were  at  once  rallied  to  the  Can- 
teen, where  bread,  butter,  meal  and  four  quarts  of 
rum  were  given  to  each  man.    About  the  same  time 

12 


^^  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 

as  the  canoes  from  the  East  arrived,  the  fur  brigades 
from  the  West  came  in  smaller  canoes,  loaded  to  the 
waterline  with  skins  valued  at  £40  a  pack.  To 
these  also  was  given  a  rSgale.  Then  twenty  or  a 
dozen  kegs  of  rum  were  distributed  to  the  Indian 
families;  ''and  after  that,"  says  one  missionary, 
"truly  the  furies  of  Hell  were  let  loose."  The  gates 
were  closed  for  reasons  that  need  not  be  given,  and 
the  Nor'Westers  often  took  the  precaution  of  gather- 
ing up  all  the  weapons  of  the  Indians  before  the 
hoisson  or  mad  drinking  bout  began,  but  the  rum- 
frenzied  Indians  still  had  fists  and  teeth  left,  and 
never  a  drinking  bout  passed  but  from  one  to  a 
dozen  Indians  were  murdered — frequently  wives  and 
daughters  because  they  were  least  able  to  defend 
themselves — though  the  Indian  murderer  when  so- 
bered was  often  plunged  in  such  grief  for  his  deed 
that  he  would  come  to  the  white  men  and  beg  them 
to  kill  him  as  punishment.  The  stripping  of  all 
restraint — moral,  physical,  legal — has  different  effects 
on  different  natures.  Some  rise  higher  in  the  free- 
dom. Others  go  far  below  the  level  of  the  most 
vicious  beast.  Men  like  Alexander  MacKenzie  and 
Doctor  McLoughlin  braced  themselves  to  the  shock 
of  the  sudden  transition  from  civilization  to  bar- 
barism and  rose  to  renown — one  as  explorer,  the 
other  as  patriot;  but  in  the  very  same  region  where 

•   13 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Alexander  MacKenzie  won  his  laurels  was  another 
MacKenzie — James — a  blood  relative,  who  openly- 
sold  native  women  to  voyageurs  and  entered  them 
as  an  asset  on  the  Company's  books;  and  in  that 
very  Oregon  where  McLoughlin  won  his  reputation 
as  a  saint,  was  his  son  McLoughlin,  notorious  as  a 
sot.  Perhaps  the  crimes  of  the  fur  country  were  no 
greater  than  those  committed  under  hiding  in  civili- 
zation, but  they  were  more  terrific,  for  they  were  un- 
disguised and  in  open  day  where  if  you  would  not 
see  them  you  must  close  your  eyes  or  bolt  the  gates. 

Inside  the  bolted  gates  where  the  partners  lived, 
the  code  was  on  the  whole  one  of  decency  and  high 
living  and  pomp.  In  the  daytime,  the  session  of 
the  annual  meeting  was  held  in  secret  behind  barred 
doors.  The  entire  Up  Country  was  mapped  out 
for  the  year's  campaign.  Reports  were  received  on 
the  past  season,  men  and  plans  arranged  for  the 
coming  year,  weak  leaders  shifted  to  easy  places, 
strong  men,  "old  winterers,"  "the  crafty  wolves  of 
the  North,"  dispatched  to  the  fields  where  there  was 
to  be  the  hardest  fighting  against  either  Indians  or 
English,  and  English  always  meant  Hudson's  Bay. 

But  at  night  the  cares  of  the  campaign  were  laid 
aside.  The  partners  dressed  for  dinner — ruffles  and 
gold  lace  and  knee  breeches  with  gold-clasped  garters 
and   silver-buckled   shoes.     Over   the   richly  laden 

14 


**  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 

dinner  table  was  told  many  a  yam  of  hardship  and 
danger  and  heroism  in  the  Up  Country.  The  rafters 
rang  with  laughter  and  applause  and  song.  Out- 
side the  gates  among  the  voyageurs  the  songs  were 
French;  inside  among  the  partners,  Scotch.  When 
plafes  were  cleared  away,  bagpipes  of  the  beloved 
Highlands,  and  flutes,  and  violins  struck  up  and 
"we  danced  till  daylight,"  records  Rod.  MacKenzie; 
or  "we  drank  the  ten  gallon  kegs  empty,"  confesses 
Henry;  it  was  according  to  the  man.  Or  when 
more  wine  than  wisdom  had  flowed  from  the  festive 
lx)ard,  and  plates  were  cleared,  the  jolly  partners 
sometimes  straddled  wine  kegs,  chairs,  benches, 
and  ''sauted,'^  as  one  relates  it — shot  the  rapids  from 
the  dining  table  to  the  floor  ending  up  a  wild  night 
with  wild  races  astride  anything  from  a  broom  to 
a  paddle  round  and  round  the  hall  till  daylight 
peeped  through  the  barred  windows,  or  pipers  and 
fiddlers  fell  asleep,  and  the  servants  came  to  pilot 
the  gay  gentlemen  to  bed.  Altogether,  it  wasn't  such 
a  dull  time — those  two  weeks'  holidays  at  Fort 
William — and  such  revel  was  only  the  foam  ("bees* 
wings"  one  journal  calls  it)  of  a  life  that  was  all 
strong  wine.  Outside  the  gates  were  the  lees  and 
the  dregs  of  the  life — riot  and  lust. 

It  was  part  of  the  Nor'Westers'  policy  to  encourage 
a  spirit  of  bluster  and  brag  and  bullying  among  the 

IS 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

servants.  Bluff  was  all  very  well,  but  the  partners 
saw  to  it  that  the  men  could  back  up  their  bluff  with 
brawn.  Wrestling  matches  and  boxing  bouts  were 
encouraged  between  the  Scotch  clerks  and  the  French 
voyageurs.  These  took  place  inside  the  walls.  Half 
the  partners  were  Catholics  and  all  the  voyageUrs. 
The  Catholic  Church  did  not  purpose  losing  these 
souls  to  Satan.  Not  for  nothing  had  the  good 
bishop  of  Quebec  listened  to  confessions  from  re- 
turned voyageurs.  When  he  picked  out  a  chaplain 
for  Fort  William,  he  saw  to  it  that  the  man  chosen 
should  be  a  man  of  herculean  frame  and  herculean 
strength.  The  good  father  was  welcomed  to  the 
Fort,  given  ample  quarters  and  high  precedence  at 
table,  but  the  Catholic  partners  weren't  quite  sure 
how  he  would  regard  those  prize  fights. 

"Don't  go  out  of  your  apartments  to-morrow! 
There's  to  be  a  regale!  There  may  be  fighting," 
they  warned  him. 

''I  thank  you,"  says  the  priest  politely,  no  doubt 
recalling  the  secrets  of  many  a  confessional. 

From  his  window,  he  watched  the  rough  crowds 
gather  next  day  in  the  courtyard.  As  he  saw  the  two 
champions  strip  to  their  waists,  he  doubtless  guessed 
this  was  to  be  no  chance  fight.  Hair  tied  back,  at 
a  signal,  fists  and  feet,  they  were  at  it.  The  priest 
grew  cold  and  then  hot.     He  began  to  strip  off  gar- 

i6 


"T/ie  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'" 


ments  that  might  hinder  his  own  shoulder  swing, 
and  clad  in  fighting  gear  burst  from  his  room  and 
marched  straight  to  the  center  of  the  crowd.  No 
one  had  time  to  ask  his  intentions.  He  was  a  big 
man  and  the  crowd  stood  aside.  Shooting  out  both 
his  long  arms,  the  priest  grabbed  each  fighter  by  the 
neck,  knocked  their  heads  together  like  two  billiard 
balls,  and  demanded:  "Heh?  That's  the  way  you 
bullies  fight,  is  it?  Eh?  Bien!  You  don't  know 
anything  about  it !  You're  a  lot  of  old  hens!  Here's 
the  way  to  do  it!  I'll  show  you  how,"  and  with 
a  final  bang  of  cracking  skulls,  he  spun  them  sprawl- 
ing across  the  courtyard  half  stunned.  "If  you  have 
any  better  than  these  two,  send  them  along!  I'll 
continue  the  lessons,"  he  proffered;  and  for  lack  of 
learners  withdrew  to  his  own  apartments. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  examine  how  the  Nor'- 
Westers  blocked  out  their  Northern  Empire  over 
which  they  kept  more  jealous  guard  than  Bluebeard 
over  his  wives. 

Take  a  map  of  North  America.  Up  on  Hudson 
Bay  is  the  English  Company  with  forts  around  it 
like  a  wheel.  Of  this  circle,  the  bay  is  the  hub.  East- 
ward are  the  forts  in  Labrador;  southward,  Abbittibbi 
toward  Quebec;  westward,  three  lines  of  fur  posts 
extending   inland   like  spokes  of  the  wheel  —  ist, 

17 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

up  Albany  River  toward  the  modern  Manitoba — 
{Mine,  water;  toba,  prairie,  that  is,  country  of  the 
prairie  water),  along  the  valley  of  Red  River  to 
modern  Minnesota  (ikf we,  water ;  sotar,  sky-colored, 
that  is,  country  of  the  sky-colored  water),  and  up  the 
winding  Assiniboine  (country  of  the  stone  boilers 
where  the  Assiniboines  cooked  food  on  hot  stones) 
to  the  central  prairie;  2nd,  up  Hayes  River  from 
York  (Nelson)  to  the  Saskatchewan  as  far  as  the 
Rockies;  3rd,  up  Churchill  River  from  Churchill 
Fort  to  Portage  de  Traite  and  Isle  a  la  Crosse  and 
far-famed  Athabasca  and  MacKenzie  River. 

The  wheel  that  has  for  its  hub  Hudson  Bay,  has 
practically  only  five  spokes — two,  eastward;  three, 
westward.  Between  these  unoccupied  spokes  are 
areas  the  size  of  a  Germany  or  a  Russia  or  a  France. 
Into  these  the  Nor'Westers  thrust  themselves  like  a 
wedge. 

Look  at  the  map  again.  This  time  the  point  of 
radiation  is  Fort  William  on  Lake  Superior.  Be- 
tween Lake  Superior  and  Hudson  Bay  northward 
for  seven  hundred  miles  is  not  a  post.  Into  these 
dark,  impenetrable,  river-swamped  forests  the  Nor'- 
Westers send  their  men.  Dangerous  work,  this! 
For  some  unaccountable  reason  the  Indians  of  these 
shadowy  forests  are  more  treacherous  and  gloomy 
than   the  tribes  of  the  plains.     Umfreville  passes 

18 


''The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


through  their  territory  when  he  tries  to  find  a  trail 
westward  not  on  American  soil.  Shaw,  the  partner, 
and  Long,  the  clerk,  are  sent  in  to  drum  up  trade. 
The  field  is  entered  one  hundred  miles  east  of  Fort 
William  at  Pays  Plat,  where  canoes  push  north  to 
Lake  Nipigon.  First,  a  fort  is  built  on  Lake  Nipi- 
gon  named  Duncan,  after  Duncan  Cameron.  Long 
stays  here  in  charge.  Shaw,  as  partner,  pushes  on 
to  a  house  half  way  down  to  Albany  on  Hudson  Bay. 
The  Indians  call  Mr.  Shaw  "the  Cat"  from  his 
feeble  voice.  A  third  hand,  Jacque  Santeron,  is  sent 
eastward  to  the  Temiscamingue  Lakes  south  of 
Abbittibbi.  The  three  Nor'Westers  have,  as  it 
were,  thrust  themselves  like  a  wedge  between  the 
spokes  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  from  Moose 
River  to  Albany;  but  a  thousand  perils  assail  them, 
a  thousand  treacheries.  First,  the  Frenchman  San- 
teron loses  courage,  sends  a  farewell  written  on  a 
birch-bark  letter  down  to  Long  at  Nipigon,  and 
deserts  bag  and  baggage,  provisions  and  peltries, 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay  at  Abbittibbi.  Determined  to 
prevent  such  loss,  Long  tears  across  country  to 
Temiscamingue  only  to  find  Santcron's  cabins  aban- 
doned and  these  words  in  charcoal  on  bark:  ^^ Fare- 
well my  dear  comrade;  I  go  with  daring  and  expect 
a  good  price  for  my  jurs  with  the  English.  With 
the  best  heart,  I  wish  you  luck.    My  regards  to  my 

19 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

partners.  Good-by.^^  But  desertion  and  theft  of 
Company  goods  are  not  the  worst  of  it.  Down  at 
Nipigon,  Long  hears  that  the  Indians  of  the  North 
are  going  to  murder  "the  Cat" — IMr.  Shaw — prob- 
ably to  carry  the  plundered  furs  down  to  the  Hud- 
son's Bay.  Long  rushes  to  the  rescue  to  find  Shaw 
cooped  up  in  the  cabin  surrounded  by  a  tribe  of 
frenzied  Indians  whom  he  tried  in  vain  to  pacify 
with  liquor. 

"My  God!  But  I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  shouts  Shaw, 
drawing  Long  inside  the  door.  For  a  week  the  In- 
dians had  tried  to  set  fire  to  his  house  by  shooting 
arrows  of  lighted  punk  wood  at  it,  but  every  window 
and  crevice  of  the  cabin  bristles  with  loaded  muskets 
— twenty-eight  of  them — that  keep  the  assailants 
back.  The  Indians  demand  more  liquor.  Shaw 
gives  it  to  them  on  condition  they  go  away,  but  at 
daybreak  back  they  come  for  more,  naked  and 
daubed  with  war  paint  from  head  to  foot. 

"More,"  shouts  Long.  "Come  on  then,"  throw- 
ing the  doors  wide  open  and  rolling  across  the  en- 
trance a  keg  of  gunpowder  from  which  he  knocks 
the  lid.  "One  step  across  the  door  and  we  all  perish 
together,"  cocking  his  pistol  straight  for  the  powder. 
Pell-mell  off  dashed  the  terrified  Indians  paddling 
canoes  as  fast  as  drunken  arms  could  work  the 
blades.    Another    time,    Long    discovers    that    his 

20 


^*The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'^ 


Indian  guide  is  only  awaiting  a  favorable  chance  to 
assassinate  him.  A  bottle  of  drugged  liquor  puts 
the  assassin  to  sleep  and  another  Indian  with  a 
tomahawk  prevents  him  ever  awakening.  When 
Long  retires,  Duncan  Cameron,  son  of  a  royalist  in 
the  American  Revolution,  comes  to  command  Nipi- 
gon.  Cameron  pushes  on  up  stream  past  Nipigon 
two  hundred  miles  to  the  English  post  Osnaburg, 
where  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  Goodwin,  welcomes 
the  Nor'Wester — a  rival  is  safer  indoors  than  out, 
especially  when  he  has  no  visible  goods;  but  Cameron 
manages  to  speak  with  the  Indians  during  his  visit 
and  when  he  departs  they  follow  him  back  to  the 
place  where  he  has  cached  his  goods  and  the  trade 
takes  place.  Henceforth  traders  of  the  Nipigon  do 
not  stay  in  the  fort  on  the  lake  but  range  the  woods 
drumming  up  trade  from  Abbittibbi  east,  to  Albany 
west. 

Meanwhile,  what  are  the  brigades  of  Fort  William 
doing?  Fifteen  days  at  the  most  it  takes  for  the 
"goers  and  comers"  of  Montreal  to  exchange  their 
cargo  of  provisions  for  the  Northerners'  cargo  of 
furs.  When  the  big  canoes  head  back  for  the  East 
at  the  end  of  July,  the  Montreal  partners  go  with 
them.  Smaller  canoes,  easier  to  portage  and  in 
more  numerous  brigades,  set  out  for  the  West  with 
the  wintering  partners.    These  are  "the  wolves  of 

21 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  North" — the  MacKenzies  and  Henry  and  Har- 
mon and  Fraser  and  a  dozen  others — each  to  com- 
mand a  wilderness  empire  the  size  of  a  France  or  a 
Germany. 

By  the  new  route  of  Kaministiquia,  it  is  only  a 
day's  paddling  beyond  the  first  long  portage  to  the 
height  of  land.  Beyond  this,  the  canoes  launch 
down  stream,  gliding  with  the  current  and  "somer- 
seting" or  shooting  the  smaller  rapids,  portaging 
when  the  fall  of  water  is  too  turbulent.  Wherever 
there  is  a  long  portage  there  stands  a  half-way  house 
— wayside  inn  of  logs  and  thatch  roof  where  some 
stray  Frenchman  sells  fresh  food  to  the  voyageurs — 
a  great  nuisance  to  the  impatient  partners,  for  the 
men  pause  to  parley.  First  of  the  labyrinthine 
waterways  that  weave  a  chain  between  Lake  Superior 
and  Lake  Winnipeg  is  Rainy  River,  flowing  north- 
west to  Lake  of  the  Woods,  or  Lake  of  the  Isles  as  the 
French  called  it.  On  Rainy  River  are  the  ruins  of 
an  old  fort  of  the  French  traders.  Here  the  North- 
bound brigades  often  meet  the  Athabasca  canoes 
which  can  seldom  come  down  all  the  way  as  far  as 
Fort  William  and  go  back  to  Athabasca  before 
winter.  Again  an  exchange  of  goods  takes  place, 
and  the  Athabasca  men  head  back  with  the  North- 
bound brigades. 

Wherever  the  rivers  widen  to  lakes  as  at  Lake 

22 


**r/ie  Coming  of  the  Pedlars** 


Francis  and  Lake  of  the  Woods,  the  canoes  swing 
abreast,  lash  gun'els  together  by  thwarting  paddles, 
hoist  saUs  and  drift  lazily  forward  on  the  forest- 
shadowed,  placid  waters,  crews  smoking,  or  singing 
with  weird  cadences  amid  the  loneliness  of  these 
silent  places.  In  this  part  of  the  voyage,  while  all 
the  brigades  were  still  together,  there  were  often  as 
many  as  five  hundred  canoes  spread  out  on  the  lakes 
like  birds  on  wing.  Faces  now  bronzed  almost  to 
the  shade  of  woodland  creatures,  splashes  of  color 
here  and  there  where  the  voyageurs'  silk  scarf  has 
not  faded,  blue  sky  above  with  a  fleece  of  clouds, 
blue  sky  below  with  a  fleece  of  clouds  and  all  that 
marked  where  sky  began  and  reflection  ended  the 
margin  of  the  painted  shores  etched  amber  in  the 
brown  waters — the  picture  was  one  that  will  never 
again  be  witnessed  in  wilderness  life.  Sometimes 
as  the  canoes  cut  a  silver  trail  across  the  lakes, 
leather  tepee  tops  would  emerge  from  the  morning 
mists  telling  of  some  Cree  hunters  waiting  with  their 
furs,  and  one  of  the  partners  would  go  ashore  to 
trade,  the  crew  camping  for  a  day.  Every  such  halt 
was  the  chance  for  repairing  canoes.  Camp  fires 
sprang  up  as  if  by  magic.  Canoes  lay  keel  up 
and  tar  was  applied  to  all  sprung  seams,  while  the 
other  boatmen  got  lines  out  and  laid  up  supplies  of 
fresh  fish.    That  night  the  lake  would  twinkle  with 

23 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

a  hundred  fires  and  an  army  of  voyageurs  lie  listen- 
ing to  the  wind  in  the  pines.  The  next  day,  a  pace 
would  be  set  to  make  up  for  lost  time. 

Lake  of  the  Woods  empties  into  Winnipeg  River 
through  a  granite  gap  of  cataract.  The  brigades 
skirted  the  falls  across  the  Portage  of  the  Rat  (modern 
Rat  Portage)  and  launched  down  the  swift  current  of 
Winnipeg  River  that  descends  northward  to  Lake 
Winnipeg  in  such  a  series  of  leaps  and  waterfalls 
it  was  long  known  among  the  voyageurs  as  W^hite  or 
Foaming  River.  Where  the  river  entered  the  south- 
east end  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  were  three  trading  posts 
— the  ruins  of  the  old  French  fort,  Maurepas,  the 
Nor' Westers'  fort  known  as  Bas  de  la  Riviere,  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Post,  now  called  Fort  Alexander 
— some  three  miles  from  the  lake. 

This  was  the  lake  which  Kelsey,  and  perhaps 
Radisson  and  Hendry  and  Cocking,  had  visited  from 
Hudson  Bay.  It  was  forty  days  straight  west  from 
Albany,  three  weeks  from  York  on  the  Hayes. 

At  this  point  the  different  brigades  separated,  one 
going  north  to  the  Athabasca,  one  west  up  the  Sas- 
katchewan to  the  Rockies,  one  southwest  across  the 
lake  to  Dauphin  and  Swan  Lake  and  what  is  now 
northwestern  Manitoba,  two  or  three  south  up  Red 
River  destined  for  Pembina  at  the  Boundary,  Grand 
Forks,  the  Mandanes  on  the  Missouri,  and  the  posts 

24 


^*The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


along  the  Assiniboine  River  of  the  middle  West. 
Look  again  to  the  map.  What  kind  of  an  empire 
do  these  Nor' Westers  encompass?  All  of  the  great 
West,  all  except  the  unknown  regions  of  the  Pacific 
Coast.  In  size  how  large?  The  area  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  No  wonder  Simon  McTavish,  founder  of 
the  Company,  wore  the  airs  of  an  emperor,  and  it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  Nor'Westers  ruled  with  the 
despotism  of  emperors,  too. 

Let  us  follow  the  different  brigades  to  their  desti- 
nations. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXI.— The  contents  of  Chapter  XXI  are 
drawn  from  the  Journals  of  the  Northwest  partners  as  pub- 
lished by  Senator  Masson,  from  Long's  Voyages,  from  private 
journals  in  my  own  collection  of  manuscripts,  chiefly  Cohn  Rob- 
ertson's, and  from  the  Abb^  Dugas'  inimitable  store  of  North- 
west legends  in  several  volumes.  The  story  of  the  recruiting 
officers  and  of  the  holy  father  comes  chiefly  from  Dugas.  Um- 
freville's  book  does  not  give  details  of  his  voyage  for  the  X.  W.  C. 
to  Nipigon,  but  he  left  a  journal  from  which  Masson  gives  facts, 
and  there  are  references  to  his  voyage  in  N.  W.  C.  petitions  to 
Parliament.  Cameron  tells  his  own  story  of  Nipigon  in  the 
Masson  Collection.  The  best  descriptions  of  Fort  William  are 
in  Colin  Robertson's  letters  (M.  S.)  and  "Franchere's  Voyage." 
In  following  N.  W.  C.  expansion,  it  was  quite  impossible  to  do 
so  chronologically.  It  could  be  done  only  by  grouping  the 
actors  round  episodes.  For  instance,  in  Nipigon,  Long  was 
there  off  and  on  in  1768,  '72,  '82.  Cameron  did  not  come  on 
the  scene  till  '96  and  did  not  take  up  residence  till  1802  to  1804. 
To  scatter  this  account  of  Nipigon  chronologically  would  be  to 
confuse  it.  Again,  Umfrevilfe  found  the  Nipigon  trail  to  the 
Up  Country,  in  1784.  Rod.  MacKenzie  did  not  find  the  old 
Kaministiquia  road  till  the  nineties.  Or  again,  Grand  Portage 
was  a  rendezvous  till  1797  and  was  not  entirely  moved  to  Fort 
William  till  1801  and  1802.  Why  separate  these  events  by  the 
hundred  other  episodes  of  the  Company's  history  purely  for  the 
sake  of  sequence  on  dates?  I  have  tried  to  keep  the  story 
grouped  round  the  main  thread  of  one  forward  movement— 
the  domination  of  the  Up  Country  by  the  N.  W.  C. 

25 


CHAPTER  XXII 

1790-1810 
"the   coming   of   the   pedlars"    continued — 

henry's  adventures  at  PEMBINA — THE  FIRST 
WHITE  WOMAN  IN  THE  WEST — A  STOLEN  CHILD 
AND  A  POISONER  AND  A  SCOUT — HOW  HARMON 
FOUND  A  WIFE — THE  STORY  OF  MARGUERITE 
TROTTIER. 

STRIKING  across  Lake  Winnipeg  from  Winni- 
peg River,  the  southbound  canoes  ascend 
the  central  channel  of  the  three  entrances  to 
Red  River,  passing  Nettley  Creek  on  the  west,  or 
River  au  Mort,  as  the  French  called  it,  in  memory 
of  the  terrible  massacre  of  Cree  families  by  Sioux 
raiders  in  1780,  while  the  women  and  children  were 
waiting  here  for  the  men  to  return  from  York  Fac- 
tory. South  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  woodland  banks 
of  the  mud-colored  river  give  place  to  glimpses  and 
patches  of  the  plains  rolling  westward  in  seas  of 
billowing  grass.  It  was  August  when  the  brigades 
left  Fort  William.  It  is  September  now,  with  the 
crisp  nutty  tang  of  parched  grasses  in  the  air,  a 
shimmer  as  of  Indian  summer  across  the  horizon 

26 


"T/ie  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


that  turns  the  setting  sun  to  a  blood-red  shield. 
Bluest  of  blue  are  the  prairie  skies.  Scarcely  a 
feathering  of  wind  clouds,  and  where  the  marsh 
lands  lie — "sloughs"  and  "muskegs,"  they  are 
called  in  the  West — so  still  is  the  atmosphere  of  the 
primeval  silences  that  the  waters  are  glass  with  the 
shadows  of  the  rushes  etched  as  by  stencil.  Here 
and  there,  thin  spirals  of  smoke  rise  from  the  far 
prairie — camp  fires  of  wandering  Assiniboine  and 
Cree  and  Saulteur.  The  brigades  fire  guns  to  call 
them  to  trade,  or  else  land  on  the  banks  and  light 
their  own  signal  fires.  Past  what  is  now  St.  Peter's 
Indian  Reserve,  and  the  two  Selkirk  towns,  and  the 
St.  Andrew  Rapids  where,  if  water  is  high,  canoes 
need  only  be  tracked,  if  low  the  voyageurs  may  step 
from  stone  to  stone;  past  the  bare  meadow  where 
to-day  stands  the  last  and  only  walled  stone  fort  of 
the  fur  trade.  Lower  Fort  Garry — the  brigades  come 
to  what  is  now  Winnipeg,  the  Forks  of  the  Red  and 
Assiniboine. 

Of  the  French  fur  traders'  old  post  here,  all  that 
remains  are  the  charred  ruins  and  cellars.  Near 
the  flats  where  the  two  rivers  overflow  in  spring  are 
the  high  scafl"oldings  of  a  Cree  graveyard  used 
during  the  smallpox  plague  of  the  eighties.  Back 
from  the  swamp  of  the  forks  are  half  a  dozen  tents 
— Hudson's  Bay  traders — that  same  Robert  Good- 

27 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

win  whom  Cameron  tricked  at  Osnaburg,  come  up 
the  Albany  River  and  across  country  to  Manitoba — 
forty  days  from  the  bay — ^with  another  trader, 
Brown. 

The  Nor'West  brigades  pause  to  divide  again.  A 
dozen  canoes  go  up  the  Assiniboine  for  Portage  la 
Prairie  and  Dauphin,  and  Swan  Lake,  and  Lake 
Manitoba  and  Qu'Appelle,  and  Souris.  Three  or 
four  groups  of  men  are  detailed  to  camp  at  the 
Forks  (Winnipeg)  and  trade  and  keep  an  eye  on 
the  doings  of  the  Hudson's  Bay — above  all  keep 
them  from  obtaining  the  hunt.  When  not  trading, 
the  men  at  the  Forks  are  expected  to  lay  up  store  of 
pemmican  meat  for  the  other  departments,  by  buffalo 
hunting.  Not  till  the  winter  of  1807-8  does  Mac- 
Donald  of  Garth,  a  wiry  Highlander  of  military 
family  and  military  air,  with  a  red  head  and  a  broken 
arm — build  a  fort  here  for  the  Nor'Westers,  which 
he  ironically  calls  Gibraltar  because  it  will  command 
the  passage  of  both  rivers,  though  there  was  not  a 
rock  the  size  of  his  hand  in  sight.  Gibraltar  is  very 
near  the  site  of  the  Cree  graveyard  and  boasts  strong 
palisades  with  storage  cellars  for  liquors  and  huge 
warehouses  for  trade.  Not  to  be  outdone,  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  look  about  for  a  site  that  shall  also  com- 
mand the  river,  and  they  choose  two  miles  farther 
down  Red  River,  where  their  cannon  can  sweep  all 

28 


*^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars^* 


incoming  and  outgoing  canoes.  When  this  fort  is 
built  a  few  years  later,  it  is  called  Fort  Douglas. 

Two  brigades  ascend  the  Red  as  far  south  as 
Pembina  south  of  the  Boundary,  one  to  range  all 
regions  radiating  from  Grand  Forks  and  Pembina, 
the  other  to  cross  country  to  the  Mandanes  on  the 
Missouri. 

Charles  Chaboillez  sends  Antoine  Larocque  with 
two  clerks  and  two  voyageurs  from  the  Assiniboine 
and  the  Red  to  the  Missouri  in  1804,  where  they 
meet  the  American  explorers,  Lewis  and  Clarke, 
with  forty  men  on  their  way  to  the  Pacific;  and,  to 
the  Nor'Westers'  amazement,  are  also  Hudson's 
Bay  traders.  The  American  officers  draw  the  Ca- 
nadians' attention  to  the  fact — this  is  American 
territory.  British  flags  must  not  be  given  to  the 
Indians  and  no  " derouines^^  are  to  take  place — a 
trade  term  meaning  that  the  drummers  who  come 
to  beat  up  trade  are  not  to  draw  the  Indians  away 
to  British  territory.  Charbonneau,  the  Northwest 
voyageur,  ignores  his  debt  to  the  Company  and 
deserts  to  become  guide  for  Lewis  and  Clarke. 

"I  can  hardly  get  a  skin  when  the  Hudson's  Bay 
trader  is  here,"  complains  Larocque,  "for  the  Eng- 
lishmen speak  the  Mandan  language."  Neverthe- 
less Larocque  dispatches  to  the  bourgeois  Mr. 
•Chaboillez  on  the  Assiniboine,  six  packs  worth  £40 

29 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

each.  Charles  MacKenzie,  the  clerk,  remains  three 
years  trading  among  the  Mandans  for  the  Nor'- 
Westers,  and  with  true  trader's  instinct  chuckles 
within  himself  to  hear  Old  Serpent,  the  Indian  Chief, 
boast  that  if  he  had  these  forty  Americans  "out  on 
the  plains,  his  young  warriors  would  do  for  them  as 
for  so  many  wolves." 

Two  main  trails  ran  from  the  Red  River  to  the 
Missouri:  one  from  Pembina,  west;  the  other  from 
the  Assiniboine,  by  way  of  Souris,  south.  The  latter 
was  generally  followed,  and  from  the  time  that  David 
Thompson,  the  Northwest  surveyor,  first  led  the 
way  to  the  Mandans,  countless  perils  assailed  the 
traveler  to  the  Missouri.  Not  more  than  $30cxd 
worth  of  furs  were  won  a  year,  but  the  traders  here 
were  the  buffalo  hunters  that  supplied  the  Northern 
departments  with  pemmican;  and  on  these  hunts 
was  the  constant  danger  of  the  Sioux  raiders.  Eleven 
days  by  pony  travel  was  the  distance  from  the  Assini- 
boine to  the  Missouri,  and  on  the  trail  was  terrible 
scarcity  of  drinking  water.  "We  had  steered  to  a 
lake,"  records  MacKenzie  of  the  1804  expedition, 
"but  found  it  dry.  We  dug  a  pit.  It  gave  a  kind 
of  stinking  liquid  of  which  we  all  drank,  which 
seemed  to  increase  our  thirst.  We  passed  the  night 
with  great  uneasiness.  Next  day,  not  a  drop  of 
water  was  to  be  found  on  the  route  and  our  distress  , 

30 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars** 


became  unsupportable.  Lafrance  (the  voyageur) 
swore  so  much  he  could  swear  no  more  and  gave 
the  country  ten  thousand  times  to  the  Devil.  His 
eyes  became  so  dim  or  blurred  we  feared  he  was 
nearing  a  crisis.  All  our  horses  became  so  unruly 
we  could  not  manage  them.  It  struck  me  they 
might  have  scented  water  and  I  ascended  the  top  of 
the  hill  where  to  my  great  joy  I  discovered  a  small 
pool.  I  ran  and  drank  plentifully.  My  horse  had 
plunged  in  before  I  could  stop  him.  I  beckoned 
Lafrance.  He  seemed  more  dead  than  alive,  his 
face  a  dark  hue,  a  thick  scurf  around  his  mouth. 
He  instantly  plunged  in  the  water  .  .  .  and 
drank  to  such  excess  I  fear  the  consequences." 

In  winter,  though  there  was  no  danger  of  perishing 
from  thirst  where  snow  could  be  used  as  water,  perils 
were  increased  a  hundredfold  by  storm.  The 
ponies  could  not  travel  fast  through  deep  drifts. 
Instead  of  eleven  days,  it  took  a  month  to  reach  the 
Assiniboine,  one  man  leading,  one  bringing  up  the 
rear  of  the  long  line  of  pack  horses.  If  a  snow 
storm  caught  the  travelers,  it  was  an  easy  matter  for 
marauding  Indians  to  stampede  the  horses  and 
plunder  packs.  In  March,  they  traveled  at  night 
to  avoid  snow  glare.  Sleeping  wrapped  in  buffalo 
robes,  the  men  sometimes  wakened  to  find  them- 
selves buried  beneath  a  snow  bank  with  the  horses 

31 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

crunched  up  half  frozen  in  the  blizzard.  Four  days 
without  food  was  a  common  experience  on  the  Man- 
dane  trail. 

Of  all  the  Nor'Westers  stationed  at  Pembina, 
Henry  was  one  of  the  most  famous.  Cheek  by  jowl 
with  the  Nor'Westers  was  a  post  of  Hudson's  Bay 
men  under  Thomas  Miller,  an  Orkneyman;  and 
hosts  of  freemen — half-breed  trappers  and  buffalo 
runners — made  this  their  headquarters,  refusing 
allegiance  to  either  company  and  selling  their  hunt 
to  the  highest  bidder.  The  highest  bidder  was  the 
trader  who  would  give  away  the  most  rum,  and  as 
traders  do  not  give  away  rum  for  nothing,  there  were 
free  fights  during  the  drunken  brawls  to  plunder  the 
intoxicated  hunters  of  furs.  Henr}^  commanded 
some  fifty -five  Nor'Westers  and  yearly  sent  out  from 
Pembina  one  hundred  and  ten  packs  of  furs  by  the 
famous  old  Red  River  ox  carts  made  all  of  wood, 
hubs  and  wheels,  that  creaked  and  rumbled  and 
screeched  their  way  in  long  procession  of  single  file 
to  waiting  canoes  at  Winnipeg. 

Henry  had  come  to  the  wilderness  with  a  hard, 
cynical  sneer  for  the  vices  of  the  fur  trader's  life. 
Within  a  few  years,  the  fine  edge  of  his  scorn  had 
turned  on  himself  and  on  all  life  besides,  because 
while  he  scorned  savage  vices  he  could  never  leave 
them  alone.     Like  the  snare  round  the  feet  of  a  man 

32 


*^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'^ 


who  has  floundered  into  the  quicksands,  they  sucked 
him  down  till  his  life  was  lost  on  the  Columbia  in  a 
drunken  spree.  One  can  trace  Henry's  degeneration 
in  his  journals  from  cynic  to  sinner  and  sinner  to  sot, 
till  he  has  so  completely  lost  the  sense  of  shame, 
lost  the  memory  that  other  men  can  have  higher 
codes,  that  he  unblushingly  sets  down  in  his  diary 
how,  to-day,  he  broke  his  thumb  thrashing  a  man 
in  a  drunken  bout;  how,  yesterday,  he  had  to  give 
a  squaw  a  tremendous  pommelling  before  she  would 
let  him  steal  the  furs  of  her  absent  lord;  how  he 
"had  a  good  time  last  night  with  the  H.  B.  C.  man 
playing  the  flute  and  the  drum  and  drinking  the  ten- 
gallon  keg  clean."  Henry's  regime  at  Pembina 
became  noted,  not  from  his  character,  but  from 
legends  of  famous  characters  who  gathered  there. 
One  night  in  December,  1807,  Henry  came  home 
to  his  lodge  and  found  a  young  Hudson's  Bay  clerk 
waiting  in  great  distress.  The  Nor'Wester  asked 
the  visitor  what  was  wanted.  The  intruder  begged 
that  the  others  present  should  be  sent  from  the  room. 
Henry  complied,  and  turned  about  to  discover  a 
young  white  woman  disguised  in  man's  clothes,  who 
threw  herself  on  her  knees  and  implored  Henry  to 
take  pity  on  her.  Her  lover  of  the  Orkney  Islands 
had  abandoned  her.  Dressed  in  man's  garb,  she 
had  joined  the  Hudson's  Bay  service  and  pursued  him 

33 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  the  wilderness.  In  Henry's  log  cabin,  her  child 
was  born.  Henry  sent  mother  and  infant  daughter 
across  to  IMr.  Haney  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
who  forwarded  both  to  the  recalcitrant  Orkneyman 
— John  Scart,  at  Grand  Forks.  Before  her  secret 
was  discovered,  according  to  legend,  the  woman  had 
been  in  Hudson's  Bay  service  of  Red  River  Depart- 
ment for  four  years.  Mother  and  child  were  sent 
back  to  the  Orkneys,  where  they  came  to  destitution. 
f.  At  Pembina,  there  always  camped  a  great  com- 
pany of  buffalo  hunters.  Among  these  had  come,  in 
the  spring  of  1806,  a  young  bride  from  Three  Rivers 
— the  wife  of  J.  Ba'tiste  Lajimoniere,  one  of  the 
most  famous  scouts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 
J.  Ba'tiste  had  gone  down  to  Quebec  the  year  before 
and  cut  a  swath  of  grandeur  in  the  simple  parish  of 
Three  Rivers  that  captured  the  heart  of  Marie  Anne 
Gaboury,  and  she  came  to  the  wilderness  as  his 
wife. 

To  the  Indian  wives  of  the  Frenchmen  in  the  free- 
men's camp,  Madame  Lajimoniere  was  a  marvel — 
the  first  white  woman  they  had  ever  beheld.  They 
waited  upon  her  with  adoration,  caressed  her  soft 
skin  and  hair,  and  handled  her  like  some  strange 
toy.  One,  especially,  under  show  of  friendliness,* 
came  to  Marie's  wigwam  to  cook,  but  J.  Ba'tiste's 
conscience  took  fright.    The  friendly  squaw   had 

34 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


been  a  cast-off  favorite  of  his  own  wild  days,  and 
from  the  Indians  he  learned  that  she  had  come  to 
cook  for  Marie  in  order  to  poison  her.  J.  Ba'tiste 
promptly  struck  camp,  packed  his  belongings  and 
carried  his  wife  back  to  the  safety  of  the  fort  at 
Pembina.  There,  on  the  6th  of  January  1807,  the 
first  white  child  of  the  West  was  bom;  and  they 
called  her  name  Reine,  because  it  w£ls  the  king's 
birthday. 

When  Henry  moved  his  fifty  men  from  Pembina 
up  the  Saskatchewan,  in  1808,  among  the  free  traders 
who  went  up  with  the  brigades  were  the  Lajimoni- 
eres.  Word  of  the  white  woman  ran  before  the  ad- 
vancing traders  by  "moccasin  telegram,"  and  wher- 
ever pause  was  made,  Indians  flocked  in  thousands 
to  see  Marie  Gaboury.  Belgrade,  a  friend  of 
Ba'tiste's,  thought  it  well  to  protect  her  by  spread- 
ing in  advance  the  report — that  the  white  woman  had 
the  power  of  the  evil  eye;  if  people  offended  her,  she 
could  cause  their  death  by  merely  looking  at  them, 
and  the  ruse  served  its  purpose  until  they  reached 
Edmonton.  This  was  the  danger  spot — the  center 
of  fearful  wars  waged  by  Blackfeet  and  Cree.  Ma- 
rauding bands  were  ever  on  the  alert  to  catch  the 
traders  short-handed,  and  in  the  earliest  days,  when 
Longmore,  and  Howse,  and  Bird,  and  Turner,  the 
astronomer,  were  commanders  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 

35 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

fort,  Shaw  and  Hughes  of  Nor'Westers,  the  dangers 
from  Indian  attack  were  so  great  that  the  rival 
traders  built  their  forts  so  that  the  palisades  of  one 
joined  the  stockades  of  the  other,  and  gates  between 
gave  passage  so  the  whites  could  communicate  with- 
out exposing  themselves.  Towers  bristling  with 
muskets  commanded  the  gates,  and  many  a  time 
the  beleaguered  chief  factor,  left  alone  with  the  women 
while  his  men  were  hunting,  let  blaze  a  fire  of  mus- 
ketry from  one  tower,  then  went  to  the  other  tower 
and  let  go  a  cross  fire,  in  order  to  give  the  Indians  the 
impression  that  more  than  one  man  was  on  guard. 
This,  at  least,  cleared  the  ambushed  spies  out  of  the 
high  grass  so  that  the  fort  could  have  safe  egress 
to  the  river. 

Here,  then,  came  Marie  Gaboury,  in  1808,  to  live 
at  Edmonton  for  four  years.  Ba'tiste,  as  of  old, 
hunted  as  freeman,  and  strange  to  say,  he  was  often 
accompanied  by  his  dauntless  wife  to  the  hunting 
field.  Once,  when  she  was  alone  in  her  tepee  on 
the  prairie,  the  tent  was  suddenly  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  Cree  warriors.  When  the  leader  lifted  the 
tent  flap,  Marie  was  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  on  her 
knees  making  what  she  thought  was  her  last  prayer. 
A  white  renegrade  wandering  with  the  Crees  called 
out  to  her  not  to  be  afraid — they  were  after  Black- 
feet.  Ba'tiste's  horror  may  be  guessed  when  he  came 

36 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


dashing  breathless  across  the  prairie  and  found  his 
wife's  tent  surrounded  by  raiders. 

"Marie!  Marie!"  he  shouted,  hair  streaming  to 
the  wind,  and  unable  to  wait  till  he  reached  the 
tepee,  "Marie — are  you  alive?" 

"Yes,"  her  voice  called  back,  "but  I — am — dying 
—of  fright." 

Ba'tiste  then  persuaded  the  Crees  that  white 
women  were  not  used  to  warriors  camping  so  near, 
and  they  withdrew.  Then  he  lost  no  time  in  shifting 
camp  inside  the  palisades  of  Edmonton.  The 
Abbe  Dugas  tells  of  another  occasion  when  Marie 
was  riding  a  buffalo  pony — one  of  the  horses  used 
as  a  swift  runner  on  the  chase — her  baby  dangling 
in  a  moss  bag  from  one  of  the  saddle  pommels. 
Turning  a  bluff,  the  riders  came  on  an  enormous 
herd  of  buffalo.  The  sudden  appearance  of  the 
hunters  startled  the  vast  herd.  With  a  snort  that 
sent  clouds  of  dust  to  the  air,  there  was  a  mad  stam- 
pede, and  true  to  his  life-long  training,  Marie's  pony 
took  the  bit  in  his  mouth  and  bolted,  wheeling  and 
nipping  and  kicking  and  cutting  out  the  biggest  of 
buffaloes  for  the  hunt,  just  as  if  J.  Ba'tiste  himself 
were  in  the  saddle.  Bounced  so  that  every  breath 
seemed  her  last,  Marie  Gaboury  hung  to  the  baby's 
moss  bag  with  one  hand,  to  the  horse's  mane  with 
the  other,  and  commended  her  soul  to  God;  but  J 

37 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Ba'tiste's  horse  had  cut  athwart  the  race  and  he 
rescued  his  wife.  That  night  she  gave  birth  to  her 
second  daughter,  and  they  jocularly  called  her 
"Laprairie."  Such  were  the  adventures  of  the 
pioneer  women  on  the  prairie.  The  every  day  epi- 
sodes of  a  single  life  would  fill  a  book,  and  the  book 
would  record  as  great  heroism  as  ever  the  Old  World 
knew  of  a  Boadicea  or  a  Joan  of  Arc.  We  are  still 
too  close  to  these  events  of  early  Western  life  to  ap- 
preciate them.  Two  hundred  years  from  now,  when 
time  has  canonized  such  courage,  the  INlarie  Ga- 
boury's  of  pioneer  days  will  be  regarded  as  the 
Boadiceas  and  Joan  of  Arcs  of  the  New  W^orld. 

There  was  constant  shifting  of  men  in  the  different 
departments  of  the  Northwest  Company.  When 
Henry  passed  down  Red  River,  in  1808,  to  go  up 
the  Saskatchewan,  half  the  brigades  struck  west- 
ward from  the  Forks  (Winnipeg),  up  the  Assiniboine 
River  to  Portage  la  Prairie  and  Souris,  and  Qu'  Ap- 
pelle  and  Dauphin  and  Swan  Lake.  Each  post  of 
this  department  was  worth  some  £700  a  year  to  the 
Nor'Westers.  Not  very  large  returns  when  it  is 
considered  that  a  keg  of  liquor  costing  the  Company 
less  than  $10  was  sold  to  the  Indians  for  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  beaver  valued  at  from  $2.00  to 
$3.00  a  skin.  "Mad"  McKay,  a  Mr.  Miller  and 
James  Sutherland  were  the  traders  for  the  Hudson's 

38 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


Bay  in  this  region,  which  included  the  modern 
provinces  of  Manitoba  and  Saskatchewan,  Among 
the  Nor'Westers,  McLeod  was  the  wintering  partner 
and  his  chief  clerks  were  the  mystic  dreamers  — 
Harmon,  that  Louis  Primo,  who  had  deserted  from 
Matthew  Cocking  on  the  Saskatchewan,  and  Cuth- 
bert  Grant,  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Montreal 
merchant  and  a  Cree  mother,  who  combined  in 
himself  the  leadership  qualities  of  both  races  and 
rapidly  rose  to  be  the  chosen  chief  of  the  Freemen 
or  Half- Breed  Rangers  known  as  the  Bois  Brides — 
men  of  "the  burnt  or  blazed  woods." 

The  saintly  Harmon  had  been  shocked  to  find 
his  bourgeois  Norman  McLeod  with  an  Indian 
spouse,  but  to  different  eras  are  different  customs 
and  he  presently  records  in  his  diary  that  he,  too, 
has  taken  an  Indian  girl  for  a  wife — the  daughter  of 
a  powerful  chief — because,  Harmon  explains  to  his 
own  uneasy  conscience,  "if  I  take  her  I  am  sure  I 
shall  get  all  the  furs  of  the  Crees,"  and  who  shall  say 
that  in  so  doing,  Harmon  did  cither  lx?tter  or  worse 
than  the  modem  man  or  woman,  who  marries  for 
worldly  interests?  Let  it  be  added — that,  having 
married  her,  Harmon  was  faithful  to  the  daughter 
of  the  Cree  chief  all  his  days  and  gave  her  the  honor 
due  a  white  wife.  In  the  case  of  the  fur  traders, 
there  was  a  deep,  potent  reason  for  these  marriages 

39 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

between  white  men  and  Indian  women.  The  white 
trader  was  one  among  a  thousand  hostiles.  By 
marrying  the  daughter  of  a  chief,  he  obtained  the 
protection  of  the  entire  tribe.  Harmon  was  on  the 
very  stamping  ground  of  the  fights  between  Cree 
and  Sioux.  By  allying  himself  with  his  neighbors, 
he  obtained  stronger  defense  than  a  hundred  pali- 
saded forts. 

The  danger  was  not  small,  as  a  single  instance  will 
show.  Until  May  each  year,  Harmon  spent  the 
time  gathering  the  furs,  which  were  floated  down  the 
Assiniboine  to  Red  River.  It  was  while  the  furs 
were  being  gathered  that  the  Sioux  raiders  would 
swoop  from  ambush  in  the  high  grasses  and  stam- 
pede the  horses,  or  lie  in  hiding  at  some  narrow  place 
of  the  river  and  serenade  the  brigades  with  showers 
of  arrows.  Women  and  girls,  the  papoose  in  the 
moss  bag,  white  men  and  red — none  were  spared,  for 
the  Sioux  who  could  brandish  the  most  scalps  from 
his  tent  pole,  was  the  bravest  warrior. 

Among  the  hunters  of  Pembina  was  a  French 
Canadian  named  Trottier  married  to  a  Cree  woman. 
The  daughter — Marguerite,  a  girl  of  sixteen — ^was 
renowned  for  her  beauty.  Indian  chiefs  offered  for 
her  hand,  but  the  father  thought  she  would  be  better 
cared  for  as  the  wife  of  a  white  man  and  gave  her  in 
marriage  to  a  hunter  named  Jutras,  who  left  Pem- 

40 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


bina  with  Henry's  brigades  in  1808.  Jutras  went 
up  the  Assiniboine.  A  year  later,  Daniel  Mac- 
Kenzie  appointed  him  and  five  others  to  take  the 
Qu'  Appelle  furs  down  the  Assiniboine  to  Red  River. 
As  usual,  some  of  the  partners  accompanied  the 
brigades  for  the  annual  meetings  at  Fort  William. 
Daniel  MacKenzie  and  McDonald  of  Garth — the 
bourgeois — were  riding  along  the  river  banks  some 
distances  behind  the  canoes.  Marguerite  Trottier 
was  in  the  canoe  with  Jutras,  and  the  French  were 
advancing,  light  of  heart  as  usual,  passing  down 
Qu'  Appelle  River  toward  the  Assiniboine.  A  day's 
voyage  above  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  the 
current  shoaled,  and  just  where  brushwood  came 
close  to  the  water's  edge,  Jutras  was  startled  by  a 
weird  call  like  a  Sioux  signal  from  both  sides.  An- 
other instant,  bullets  and  arrows  rained  on  the 
canoes!  Four  of  the  six  voyageurs  tumbled  back 
wounded  to  the  death.  Jutras  and  the  remaining 
man  lost  their  heads  so  completely  they  sprang  to 
midwaist  in  the  water,  waded  ashore,  and  dashed  in 
hiding  through  the  high  grass  for  the  nearest  fort, 
forgetting  the  girl  wife.  Marguerite  Trottier,  and  a 
child  six  months  old.  MacKenzie  and  McDonald 
of  Garth  sent  scouts  to  rally  help  from  Qu'  Appelle 
to  recover  the  furs.  When  the  rescue  party  reached 
the  place  of  plunder — not  very  far  from  the  modern 

41 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Whitewood — they  found  the  four  voyageurs  lying  on 
the  sand,  the  girl  wife  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe. 
All  had  been  stripped  naked,  scalped  and  horribly 
mutilated.  Two  of  the  men  still  lived.  MacKenzie 
had  advanced  to  remove  the  girl's  body  from  the 
canoe  when  faint  with  horror  at  the  sight — hands 
hacked,  an  eye  torn  out,  the  scalp  gone — the  old 
wintering  partner  was  rooted  to  the  ground  with 
amazement  to  hear  her  voice  asking  for  her  child 
and  refusing  to  be  appeased  till  they  sought  it.  Some 
distance  on  the  prairie  in  the  deep  grass  below  a  tree 
they  found  it— still  breathing.  The  English  mind 
cannot  contemplate  the  cruelties  of  such  tortures  as 
the  child  had  suffered.  Such  horrors  mock  the  soft 
philosophies  of  the  life  natural,  being  more  or  less  of  a 
beneficent  affair.  They  stagger  theology,  and  are 
only  explainable  by  one  creed — the  creed  of  Strength; 
the  creed  that  the  Powers  for  Good  must  be  stronger 
than  the  Powers  for  Evil — stronger  physically  as  well 
as  stronger  spiritually,  and  until  they  are,  such 
horrors  will  stalk  the  earth  rampant.  The  child 
had  been  scalped,  of  course!  The  Sioux  warrior 
must  have  his  trophy  of  courage,  just  as  the  modern 
grinder  of  child  labor  must  have  his  dividend.  It 
had  then  been  suspended  from  a  tree  as  a  target 
for  the  arrows  of  the  braves.  Hardened  old  roue  as 
MacKenzie  was — it  was  too  much  for  his  blackened 

42 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'^ 


heart.  He  fell  on  his  trembling  knees  and  according 
to  the  rites  of  his  Catholic  faith,  ensured  the  child's 
entrance  to  Paradise  by  baptism  before  death.  It 
might  die  before  he  could  bring  water  from  the  river. 
The  rough  old  man  baptized  the  dying  infant  with 
the  blood  drops  from  its  wounds  and  with  his  own 
tears. 

Returning  to  the  mother,  he  gently  told  her  that 
the  child  had  been  killed.  Swathing  her  body  in 
cotton,  these  rough  voyageurs  bathed  her  wounds, 
put  the  hacked  hands  in  splinters,  and  in  all  proba- 
bility saved  her  life  by  binding  up  the  loose  skin  to 
the  scalp  by  a  clean,  fresh  bladder.  That  night 
voyageurs  and  partners  sat  round  the  wounded  where 
they  lay,  each  man  with  back  to  a  tree  and  musket 
across  his  knees.  In  the  morning  the  wounded  were 
laid  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoes.  Scouts  were  ap- 
pointed to  ride  on  both  sides  of  the  river  and  keep 
guard.  In  this  way,  the  brigade  advanced  all  day 
and  part  of  the  following  night,  "the  poor  woman 
and  men  moaning  all  the  time,"  records  McDonald 
of  Garth.  Coming  down  the  Assiniboine  to  Souris, 
where  the  Hudson's  Bay  had  a  fort  under  Mr. 
Pritchard,  the  Nor' Westers  under  Pierre  Falgon, 
the  rhyming  minstrel  of  the  prairie — the  wounded 
were  left  here.  Almost  impossible  to  believe,  Mar- 
guerite Trottier  recovered  sufficiently  in  a  month 

43 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  join  the  next  brigade  bound  to  Gibraltar  (Winni- 
peg). Here  she  met  her  father  and  went  home  with 
him  to  Pembina.  Jutras — the  poltroon  husband — 
who  had  left  her  to  the  raiders,  she  abandoned  with 
all  the  burning  scorn  of  her  Indian  blood.  It  seems 
after  the  Sioux  had  wreaked  their  worst  cruelty,  she 
simulated  death,  then  crawled  to  hiding  under  the 
oilcloth  of  the  canoe,  where,  lying  in  terror  of  more 
tortures,  she  vowed  to  the  God  of  the  white  men  that 
if  her  life  were  spared  she  would  become  a  Christian. 
This  vow  she  fulfilled  at  Pembina,  and  afterward 
married  one  of  the  prominent  family  of  Gingras,  so 
becoming  the  mother  of  a  distinguished  race.  She 
lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  almost  a  hundred. 

Another  character  almost  as  famous  in  Indian 
legend  as  Marguerite  had  been  w^ith  Henry  at  Pem- 
bina and  come  north  to  Harmon  on  the  Assiniboine. 
This  was  the  scout,  John  Tanner,  stolen  by  Shawnees 
from  the  family  of  the  Rev.  John  Tanner  on  the 
Ohio.  The  boy  had  been  picking  walnuts  in  the 
woods  when  he  w^as  kidnapped  by  a  marauding 
party,  who  traded  him  to  the  Ottawas  of  the  Up 
Country.  Tanner  fell  in  good  hands.  His  foster 
mother  was  chief  of  the  Mackinaw  Indians  and 
quite  capable  of  exercising  her  authority  in  terms  of 
the  physical.  Chaboillez,  the  wintering  partner, 
saw  the  boy  at  the  Sault  and  inquiries  as  to  who  he 

44 


**The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


was  put  the  foster  mother  in  such  a  fright  of  losing 
him  that  she  hid  him  in  the  Sault  cellars.  Among 
the  hunters  of  Pembina  were  Tanner  and  his  Indian 
mother,  and  later — his  Indian  wife.  He  wiU  come 
into  this  story  at  a  later  stage  with  J.  Ba'tiste  Laji- 
moniere. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXII. — I  have  purposely  hung  this  chapter 
round  Henry  as  a  peg,  because  his  adventures  at  Pembina, 
whence  journeys  radiated  to  the  Missouri  and  the  Assiniboine, 
merge  into  his  life  on  the  Saskatchewan  and  so  across  the  Rockies 
to  the  Columbia — giving  a  record  of  all  the  N.  W.  C.'s  depart- 
ments, as  if  one  traveled  across  on  a  modem  railroad. 

Henry's  Adventures  are  to  be  found  in  his  Journals  edited 
by  Dr.  Coues  and  published  by  Francis  P.  Harper.  Several 
reprints  of  Harmon's  Journals  have  recently  appeared.  Harmon 
was  originally  from  Vermont  and  one  of  his  daughters  until 
recently  was  prominent  in  Ottawa,  Canada,  as  the  head  of  a 
fashionable  scnool.  I  can  imagine  how  one  of  the  recent  re- 
prints would  anger  Harmon's  familv,  where  the  introduction 
speaks  glibly  of  Harmon  having  taken  a  "native  wife  ad  in- 
terim." What  those  words  "ad  interim"  mean,  I  doubt  if  the 
writer,  himself,  knows — unless  his  own  unsavory  thought,  for 
of  all  fur  traders  Harmon  was  one  of  the  most  saintly,  clean, 
honorable,  and  gentle,  true  to  his  wife  as  to  the  finest  white 
woman. 

I  have  referred  to  Daniel  MacKenzie  as  an  old  roti^.  The 
reasons  for  this  will  appear  in  a  subsequent  chapter  on  doings 
at  Fort  William. 

The  adventures  of  Tanner  will  be  found  in  James'  life  of  him, 
in  Major  Long's  travels,  in  Harmon,  and  in  the  footnotes  of 
Coues's  Henry,  also  by  Dr.  Bryce  in  the  Manitoba  History  Coll., 
most  important  of  all  in  the  Minnesota  Hist.  Collections,  where 
the  true  story  of  his  death  is  recorded. 

The  adventures  of  Marguerite  Trottier  are  taken  from  two 
sources:  from  McDonald  of  Garth's  Journal  (Masson  Journals) 
and  from  the  AbW  Dugas'  Legends.  I  hesitated  whether  to 
give  this  shocking  and  terrible  story,  for  the  most  thoughtless 
reader  will  find  between  the  lines  (and  it  is  intended)  more  than 
is  told.  What  determined  me  to  give  the  story  was  this:  Again 
and  again  in  the  drawing  rooms  of  London  and  Xew  York,  I  have 

45 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


heard  society — men  and  women,  who  hold  high  place  in  social 
life — refer  to  those  early  marriages  of  the  fur  traders  to  native 
women  as  something  sub  rosa,  disreputable,  best  hidden  behind 
a  lie  or  a  fig  leaf.  They  never  expressed  those  delicate  senti- 
ments to  me  till  they  had  ascertained  that  tho'  I  had  lived  all 
my  life  in  the  West,  I  had  neither  native  blood  in  my  veins  nor 
a  relationship  of  any  sort  to  the  pioneer — not  one  of  them.  Then 
some  such  expressions  as  this  would  come  out  apologetically 
with  mock  modest  Pharisaic  blush — "Is  it  true  that  So  and  So 
married  a  native  woman?"  or  "Of  course  I  know  they  were  all 
wicked  men,  for  look  how  they  married — Squaws!"  I  confess 
it  took  me  some  time  to  get  the  Eastern  view  on  this  subject 
into  my  head,  and  when  I  did,  I  felt  as  if  I  had  passed  one  of 
those  sewer  holes  they  have  in  civilized  cities.  Of  course,  it  is 
the  natural  point  of  view  for  people  who  guzzle  on  problem  plays 
and  sex  novels,  but  what — I  wondered — would  those  good 
people  think  if  they  realized  that  "the  squaws"  of  whom  they 
spoke  so  scornfully  were  to  Northwest  life  what  a  Boadicea  was 
to  English  life — the  personification  of  Purity  that  was  Strength 
and  Strength  that  was  Purity — a  womanhood  that  the  vilest 
cruelties  could  not  defile.  Then,  to  speak  of  fur  traders  who 
married  native  women  as  "all  wicked"  is  a  joke.  Think  of  the 
reUgious  mystic,  Harmon,  teaching  his  wife  the  English  language 
with  the  Bible,  and  Alexander  MacKenzie,  who  had  married  a 
native  woman  before  he  had  married  his  own  cousin,  and  the 
saintly  patriot.  Dr.  McLoughlin — think  of  them  if  you  can  as 
"wicked."  I  can't!  I  only  wish  civilized  men  and  women  had 
as  good  records. 

In  this  chapter  I  wished  very  much  to  give  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  each  N.  W.  C.  department  with  notes  on  the  chief 
actors,  who  were  in  those  departments  what  the  feudal  barons 
were  to  the  countries  of  Europe,  but  space  forbids.  It  is  as  im- 
possible to  do  that  as  it  would  be  to  cram  a  record  of  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  into  one  volume. 

I  have  throughout  referred  to  the  waters  as  Hudson  Bay;  to 
the  company  as  Hudson's.  This  is  the  ruling  of  the  Geograph- 
ical societies  and  is,  I  think,  correct,  as  the  charter  calls  the 
company  "Hudson's  Bay."  The  N.  W.  C.  were  sometimes 
referred  to  as  "the  French." 

Charles  MacKenzie  and  Larocque  in  their  Journals  (Masson 
Coll.)  give  the  details  of  the  Mandane  trade.  Henry  also  touches 
on  it. 


46 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

1780-1810 


"THE     COMING     OF     THE     PEDLARS"     CONTINUE! 

THIRTY  YEARS  OF  EXPLORATION — THE  ADVANCE 
UP  THE  SASKATCHEWAN  TO  BOW  RIVER  AND 
HOWSE  PASS — ^THE  BUILDING  OF  EDMONTON- 
HOW  MACKENZIE  CROSSED  TO  THE  PACIFIC. 

WHII^E  fifty  or  a  hundred  men  yearjy  as- 
cended Red  River  as  far  as  Grand  Forks, 
and  the  Assiniboine  as  far  as  Qu'  Appelle, 
the  main  forces  of  the  Nor'Westers — the  great  army 
of  wood-rovers  and  plain  rangers  and  swelling,  blus- 
tering bullies  and  crafty  old  wolves  of  the  North, 
and  quiet-spoken  wintering  partners  of  iron  will,  who 
said  little  and  worked  like  demons — were  destined 
for  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan  that  led  to  the 
Rockies. 

Like  a  great  artery  with  branches  south  leading 
over  the  height  of  land  to  the  Missouri  and  branches 
north  giving  canoe  passage  over  the  height  of  land 
to  the  Arctic,  the  Saskatchewan  flowed  for  twelve 
hundred  miles  through  the  fur  traders'  stamping 
ground,  freighted  with  the  argosies  of  a  thousand 

47 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

canoes.  From  the  time  that  the  ice  broke  up  in  May, 
canoes  were  going  and  coming;  canoes  with  blankets 
hoisted  on  a  tent  pole  for  sail;  canoes  of  birch  bark 
and  cedar  dugouts;  canoes  made  of  dried  buffalo 
skin  stitched  and  oiled  round  willow  withes  the  shape 
of  a  tub,  and  propelled  across  stream  by  lapping  the 
hand  over  the  side  of  the  frail  gun' els.  Indians 
squatted  flat  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoes,  dipping 
paddles  in  short  stroke  with  an  ease  born  of  lifelong 
practice.  White  men  sat  erect  on  the  thwarts  with 
the  long,  vigorous  paddle-sweep  of  the  English  oars- 
man atid  shot  up  and  dow^n  the  swift-flowing  waters 
like -birds  on  wing.  The  boats  of  the  English  traders 
from  Hudson  Bay  were  ponderously  clumsy,  almost 
as  large  as  the  Mackinaws,  which  the  Company  still 
uses,  with  a  tree  or  rail  plied  as  rudder  to  half-punt, 
half-scull;  rows  of  oarsmen  down  each  side,  who 
stood  to  the  oar  where  the  current  was  stiff,  and  a 
big  mast  pole  for  sails  when  there  was  wind,  for  the 
tracking  rope  when  it  was  necessary  to  pull  against 
rapids.  Where  rapids  were  too  turbulent  for  track- 
ing, these  boats  were  tnmdled  ashore  and  rolled 
across  logs.  Little  wonder  the  Nor'Westers  with 
their  light  birch  canoes  built  narrow  for  speed,  light 
enough  to  be  carried  over  the  longest  portage  by 
two  men,  outraced  with  a  whoop  the  Hudson's  Bay 
boats  whenever  they  encountered  each  other  on  the 

48 


*^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


Saskatchewan!  Did  the  rival  crews  camp  for  the 
night  together,  French  bullies  would  challenge  the 
Orkneymen  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  to  come  out  and 
fight.  The  defeated  side  must  treat  the  conquerors 
or  suffer  a  ducking. 

Crossing  the  north  end  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  canoes 
bound  inland  passed  Horse  Island  and  ascended  the 
Saskatchewan.  Only  one  interruption  broke  navi- 
gation for  one  thousand  miles — Grand  Rapids  at  the 
entrance  of  the  river,  three  miles  of  which  could  be 
tracked,  three  must  be  portaged — in  all  a  trail  of 
about  nine  miles  on  the  north  shore  where  the  English 
had  laid  a  corduroy  road  of  log  rollers.  The  ruins 
of  old  Fort  Bourbon  and  Basquia  or  Pas,  where 
Hendry  had  seen  the  French  in  '54,  were  first  passed. 
Then  boats  came  to  the  metropolis  of  the  Saskatche- 
wan— the  gateway  port  of  the  great  Up  Country 
— Cumberland  House  on  Sturgeon  Lake.  Here, 
Hearne  had  built  the  post  for  Hudson's  Bay,  and 
Frobisher  the  fort  for  the  Nor'Westers.  Here,  boats 
could  go  on  up  the  Saskatchewan,  or  strike  north- 
west through  a  chain  of  lakes  past  Portage  de  Traite 
and  Isle  a  la  Crosse  to  Athabasca  and  MacKenzie 
River.  Fishing  never  failed,  and  when  the  fur 
traders  went  down  to  headquarters,  their  families 
remained  at  Cumberland  House  laying  up  a  store 
of  dried  fish  for  the  winter.     Beyond  Cumberland 

49 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

House  came  those  forts  famous  in  Northwest  annals, 
Lower  Fort  des  Prairies,  and  the  old  French  Nipawi, 
and  Fort  a  la  Corne,  and  Pitt,  and  Fort  George,  and 
Vermilion,  and  Fort  Saskatchewan  and  Upper  Fort 
des  Prairies  or  Augustus — many  of  which  have 
crumbled  to  ruin,  others  merged  into  modern  cities 
like  Augustus  into  Edmonton.  On  the  south  branch 
of  the  Saskatchewan  and  between  the  two  rivers 
were  more  forts — oases  in  a  wilderness  of  savagery — 
Old  Chesterfield  House  where  Red  Deer  River  comes 
in  and  Upper  Bow  Fort  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the 
modern  summer  resort  at  Banff,  where  grassed 
mounds  and  old  arrowheads  to-day  mark  the  place 
of  the  palisades. 

More  dangers  surrounded  the  traders  of  the  South 
Saskatchewan  than  in  any  part  of  the  Up  Country. 
The  Blackfeet  were  hostile  to  the  white  men.  With 
food  in  abundance  from  the  buffalo  hunts,  they  had 
no  need  of  white  traders  and  resented  the  coming 
of  men  who  traded  firearms  to  their  enemies.  There 
was,  beside,  constant  danger  of  raiders  from  the 
Missouri — Snakes  and  Crows  and  Minnetaries. 
Hudson's  Bay  and  Nor'Westers  built  their  forts  close 
together  for  defence  in  South  Saskatchewan,  but 
that  did  not  save  them. 

At  Upper  Bow  Fort  in  Banff  Valley,  in  1796, 
Missouri  raiders  surrounded  the  English  post,  scaled 

50 


^^The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


the  palisades,  stabbed  all  the  whites  to  death  except 
one  clerk,  who  hid  under  a  dust  pile  in  the  cellar, 
pillaged  the  stores,  set  fire,  then  rallied  across  to  the 
Nor'Westers,  but  the  Nor'Westers  had  had  warning. 
Jaccot  Finlay  and  the  Cree  Beau  Parlez,  met  the 
assailants  with  a  crash  of  musketry.  Then  dashing 
out,  they  rescued  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  launched 
their  canoes  by  night  and  were  glad  to  escape  with 
their  lives  down  the  Bow  to  Old  Chesterfield  House 
at  Red  Deer  River. 

Two  years  later,  the  wintering  partners,  Hughes 
and  Shaw,  with  McDonald  of  Garth,  built  Fort 
Augustus  or  Edmonton.  Longmore  was  chief  factor 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  at  Edmonton,  with  Bird  as 
leader  of  the  brigades  down  to  York  Fort  and  Howse 
as  "patroon  of  the  woods"  west  as  far  as  the  Rockies. 
With  the  Nor'Westers  was  a  high-spirited  young 
fire  eater  of  a  clerk — Colin  Robertson,  who,  coming 
to  blows  with  McDonald  of  the  Crooked  Arm,  was 
promptly  dismissed  and  as  promptly  stepped  across 
to  the  rival  fort  and  joined  the  Hudson's  Bay.  Around 
Edmonton  camped  some  three  hundred  Indians. 
In  the  crowded  quarters  of  the  courtyards,  yearly 
thronged  by  the  eastern  brigades  so  that  each  fort 
housed  more  than  one  hundred  men,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  keep  all  the  horses  needed  for  travel.  These 
were  hobbled  and  turned  outside  the  palisades.    It 

51 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  easy  for  the  Indians  to  cut  the  hobbles,  mount 
a  Company  horse,  and  ride  free  of  punishment  as 
the  winds.  Longmore  determined  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  trick.  Once  a  Cree  horse  thief  was  brought  in. 
He  was  tried  by  court  martial  and  condemned  to 
death.  Gathering  together  fifteen  of  his  hunters, 
Longmore  plied  them  with  liquor  and  ordered  them 
to  fire  simultaneously.  The  horse  thief  fell  riddled 
with  bullets.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Indians' 
idea  of  the  white  man's  justice  became  confused. 
If  white  men  shot  an  Indian  for  stealing  a  horse, 
why  should  not  Indians  shoot  white  men  for  steal- 
ing furs? 

From  the  North  Saskatchewan  to  the  South  Sas- 
katchewan ran  a  trail  pretty  much  along  the  same 
region  as  the  Edmonton  railroad  runs  to-day.  In 
May  the  furs  of  both  branches  were  rafted  down  the 
Saskatchewan  to  the  Forks  and  from  the  Forks 
to  Cumberland  House  whence  Hudson's  Bay  and 
Nor' Wester  brigades  separated.  In  1804,  McDon- 
ald of  Garth  had  gone  south  from  Edmonton  to  raft 
down  the  furs  of  the  South  Saskatchewan.  Hud- 
son's Bay  and  Nor'Westers  set  out  together  down 
stream,  scouts  riding  the  banks  on  each  side.  Half 
way  to  the  Forks,  the  Nor'Westers  got  wind  of  a 
band  of  Assiniboines  approaching  with  furs  to  trade. 
This  must  be  kept  secret  from  the  Hudson's  Bays. 

52 


The  Coining  of  the  Pedlars** 


Calling  Boucher,  his  guide,  McDonald  of  Garth, 
bade  the  voyageurs  camp  here  for  three  days  to  hunt 
buffalo  while  he  would  go  off  before  daybreak  to 
meet  the  Assiniboines.  The  day  foUowing,  the 
buffalo  hunters  noticed  movements  as  of  riders  or  a 
herd  on  the  far  horizon.  They  urged  Boucher  to 
lead  the  brigade  farther  down  the  river,  but  Boucher 
knew  that  McDonald  was  ahead  to  get  the  furs  of 
the  Assiniboines  and  it  was  better  to  delay  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  men  here  with  Northwest  hunters.  All 
night  the  tom-tom  pounded  and  the  voyageurs 
danced  and  the  fiddlers  played.  Toward  daybreak 
during  the  mist  between  moonlight  and  dawn,  when 
the  tents  were  all  silent  and  the  voyageurs  asleep 
beneath  inverted  canoes,  Missouri  raiders,  led  by 
Wolf  Chief,  stole  on  the  camp.  A  volley  was  fired 
at  Boucher's  tent.  Every  man  inside  perished.  Out- 
side, under  cover  of  canoes,  the  voyageurs  seized 
their  guns  and  with  a  peppering  shot  drove  the 
Indians  back.  Then  they  dragged  the  canoes  to 
water,  still  keeping  under  cover  of  the  keel,  rolled  the 
boats  keel  down  on  the  water,  tumbled  the  baggage 
in  helter-skelter  and  fled  abandoning  five  dead  men 
and  the  tents.  When  the  raiders  carried  the  booty 
back  to  the  Missouri  they  explained  to  Charles 
MacKenzie,  the  Nor'Wester  there,  that  they  were 
sorry  they  had  shot  the  white  traders.    It  was  a 

53 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

mistake.  When  they  fired,  they  thought  it  was  a 
Cree  camp. 

From  Edmonton  was  an  important  trail  to  Atha- 
basca, ninety  miles  overland  to  what  is  now  known 
as  Athabasca  Landing  on  Athabasca  River  and  down 
sti'eam  to  Fort  Chippewyan  on  Athabasca  Lake. 
This  was  the  region  Peter  Pond  had  found,  and  when 
he  was  expelled  for  the  murder  of  two  men,  Alex- 
ander MacKenzie  came  to  take  his  place.  Just  as 
the  Saskatchewan  River  was  the  great  artery  east 
and  west,  so  the  fur  traders  of  Athabasca  now  came 
to  a  great  artery  north  and  south — a  river  that  was 
to  the  North  what  the  Mississippi  was  to  the  United 
States.  The  Athabasca  was  the  south  end  of  this 
river.  The  river  where  it  flowed  was  called  the 
Grand  or  Big  River. 

Athabasca  was  seventy  days'  canoe  travel  from 
the  Nor' Westers'  headquarters  on  Lake  Superior. 
It  was  Alexander  MacKenzie' s  duty  to  send  his 
hunters  out,  wait  for  their  furs,  then  conduct  the 
brigades  down  to  Rainy  Lake.  Laroux  and  Cuth- 
bert  Grant,  the  plains  ranger,  were  his  under  officers. 
When  he  came  back  from  Lake  Superior  in  '88, 
MacKenzie  sent  Grant  and  Laroux  down  to  Slave 
Lake.  Then  he  settled  down  to  a  winter  of  loneli- 
ness and  began  to  dream  dreams.  Where  did  Big 
River   run   beyond   Slave   Lake?    It  was   a  river 

54 


"  The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


broader  than  the  St.  Lawrence  with  ramparts  like 
the  Hudson.  Dreaming  of  explorations  that  would 
bring  him  renown,  he  planned  to  accompany  the 
hunters  next  year,  but  who  would  take  his  place 
to  go  down  with  the  yearly  brigades,  and  what  would 
the  other  Northwest  partners  say  to  these  exploring 
schemes?  He  wrote  to  his  cousin  Rory  to  come  and 
take  his  place.  As  to  objections  from  the  partners, 
he  told  them  nothing  about  it. 

The  first  thing  Rory  MacKenzie  does  is  to  move 
Pond's  old  post  down  stream  to  a  rocky  point  on  the 
lake,  which  he  calls  Chippewyan  from  the  Indians 
there.  This  will  enable  the  fort  to  obtain  fish  all 
the  year  round.  May,  '89,  Alexander  MacKenzie 
sees  his  cousin  Rory  off  with  the  brigades  for  Lake 
Superior.  Then  he  outfits  his  Indian  hunters  for 
the  year.  Norman  McLeod  and  five  men  are  to 
build  more  houses  in  the  fort.  Laroux's  canoe  is 
loaded  for  Slave  Lake.  Then  MacKenzie  picks  out 
a  crew  of  one  German  and  four  Canadians  with  two 
wives  to  sew  moccasins  and  cook.  "English  Chief" 
whom  Frobisher  met  down  at  Portage  de  Traite 
years  ago,  goes  as  guide,  accompanied  by  two  wives 
and  two  Indian  paddlers.  Tuesday,  June  2nd,  is 
spent  gumming  canoes  and  celebrating  farewells. 
June  3rd,  1789,  at  nine  in  the  morning,  the  canoes 
push  out,  Mr.  McLeod  on  the  shore  firing  a  salute 

55 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

that  sets  the  echoes  ringing  over  the  Lake  of  the 
Hills  (Athabasca).  Twenty-one  miles  from  Chip- 
pewyan,  the  boats  enter  Slave  River  on  the  north- 
west, where  a  lucky  shot  brings  down  a  goose  and  a 
couple  of  ducks.  It  is  seven  in  the  evening  when 
they  pitch  camp,  but  this  is  June  of  the  long  daylight. 
The  sun  is  still  shining  as  they  sit  down  to  the  lus- 
cious meal  of  wild  fowl.  The  seams  of  the  canoes 
are  gummed  and  the  men  "turn-in"  early,  bed  being 
below  upturned  canoes;  for  henceforth,  MacKenzie 
tells  them,  reveille  is  to  sound  at  3  A.  m.,  canoes  to  be 
in  the  water  by  four.  Peace  River,  a  mile  broad  at 
its  mouth,  is  passed  next  day,  and  MacKenzie  won- 
ders does  this  river  flowing  from  the  mountains  lead 
to  the  west  coast  where  Captain  Cook  found  the 
Russians?  Slave  River  flows  swifter  now.  The 
canoes  shoot  the  rapids,  for  the  water  is  flood  tide, 
and  ''English  Chief"  tells  them  the  Indians  of  this 
river  are  called  Slaves  because  the  Crees  drove  them 
from  the  South.  Sixty  miles  good  they  make  this 
day  before  camping  at  half-past  seven,  the  Indian 
wives  sewing  moccasins  as  hard  as  the  men  paddle,  so 
hard  indeed  that  when  they  come  to  a  succession  of 
dangerous  rapids  next  day  and  land  to  unload,  one 
canoe  is  caught  in  the  swirl  and  carried  down  with 
the  squaw,  who  swims  ashore  little  the  worse.  This 
is  the  place — Portage  des  Noyes — where  Cuthbert 

56 


'T/te  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


Grant  lost  five  voyageurs  going  to  Slave  Lake  three 
years  before.  June  9th,  mid  fog  and  rain  and  float- 
ing ice  and  clouds  of  mosquitoes,  they  glide  into  the 
beaver  swamps  of  Slave  Lake.  Wild  fowl  are  in 
such  flocks,  the  voyageurs  knock  geese  and  ducks 
enough  on  the  head  for  dinner.  Laroux  drops  off 
here  at  his  fort.  The  men  go  hunting.  The  women 
pick  berries  and  Alexander  MacKenzie  climbs  a  high 
hill  to  try  and  see  a  way  out  of  this  foggy  swamp  of  a 
lake  stretching  north  in  two  horns  two  hundred  miles 
from  east  to  west.  There  was  ice  ahead  and  there 
was  fog  ahead,  and  it  was  quite  plain  "  English  Chief" 
did  not  know  the  way.  MacKenzie  followed  the 
direction  of  the  drifting  ice.  Dog  Rib  Indians  here 
vow  there  is  no  passage  through  the  ice,  and  the  cold 
rains  slush  down  in  torrents.  It  is  not  dark  longer 
than  four  hours,  but  the  nights  are  so  cold  the  lake 
is  edged  with  ice  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  Mac- 
Kenzie secures  a  Red  Knife  Indian  as  guide  and 
pushes  on  through  the  flag-grown  swamps,  now 
edging  the  ice  fields,  now  in  such  rough  water  men 
must  bail  to  keep  the  canoes  afloat,  now  trying  to 
escape  from  the  lake  east,  only  to  be  driven  back  by 
the  ice,  west;  old  "English  Chief"  threatening  to 
cut  the  Red  Knife's  throat  if  he  fails  them.  Three 
weeks  have  they  been  fog-bound  and  ice-bound  and 
lost  on  Slave  Lake,  but  they  find  their  way  out  by 

57 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  west  channel  at  last,  a  strong  current,  a  stiff  wind 
and  blankets  up  for  sail.  July  ist,  they  pass  the 
mouth  of  a  very  large  river,  the  Liard;  July  5th, 
a  very  large  camp  of  Dog  Rib  Indians,  who  warn 
them  "old  age  will  come  before"  MacKenzie 
"reaches  the  sea"  and  that  the  wildest  monsters 
guard  Big  River.  MacKenzie  obtains  a  Dog  Rib 
for  a  guide,  but  the  Dog  Rib  has  no  relish  for  his 
part,  and  to  keep  him  from  running  away  as  they 
sleep  at  night,  MacKenzie  takes  care  to  lie  on  the 
edge  of  the  filthy  fellow's  vermin-infested  coat.  A 
greenish  hue  of  the  sea  comes  on  the  water  as  they 
pass  Great  Bear  Lake  to  the  right,  but  the  guide  has 
become  so  terrified  he  must  now  be  bodily  held  in 
the  canoe.  The  banks  of  the  river  rise  to  lofty  ram- 
parts of  white  rock.  Signs  of  the  North  grow  more 
frequent.  Trees  have  dwindled  in  size  to  little 
sticks.  The  birds  and  hares  shot  are  all  whitish- 
gray  with  fur  pads  or  down  on  their  feet.  On  July 
8th,  the  guide  escapes,  but  a  Hare  Indian  comes 
along,  who,  by  signs,  says  it  is  only  ten  days  to  the 
sea.  Presently,  the  river  becomes  muddy  and  breaks 
into  many  channels.  Provisions  are  almost  gone, 
and  MacKenzie  promises  his  men  if  he  does  not  find 
the  sea  within  a  week,  he  will  turn  back.  On  the 
nth  of  July,  the  sun  did  not  set,  and  around  de- 
serted camp  fires  were  found  pieces  of  whalebone. 

58 


"T/^e  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'" 


MacKenzie's  hopes  mounted.  Only  the  Eskimos 
use  whalebone  for  tent  poles.  Footprints,  too,  were 
seen  in  the  sand,  and  a  rare  beauty  of  a  black  fox — 
with  a  pelt  that  was  a  hunter's  fortune — scurried 
along  the  sands  into  hiding.  The  Hare  Indian 
guide  began  talking  of  "a  large  lake"  and  "an  enor- 
mous fish"  which  the  Eskimo  hunted  with  spears. 
"Lake?"  Had  not  MacKenzie  promised  his  men 
it  was  to  be  the  sea?  The  voyageurs  were  dis- 
couraged. They  did  not  think  of  the  big  "fish" 
being  a  whale,  or  the  riffle  in  the  muddy  channels 
the  ocean  tide,  not  though  the  water  slopped  into 
the  tents  under  the  baggage  and  "the  large  lake" 
appeared  covered  with  ice.  Then  at  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  July  14th,  the  ice  began  floundering 
in  a  boisterous  way  on  calm  waters.  There  was  no 
mistaking.  The  floundering  ice  was  a  whale  and 
this  was  the  North  Sea,  first  reached  overland' by 
Heame  of  the  Hudson's  Bay,  and  now  found  by 
Alexander  MacKenzie. 

The  story  of  MacKenzie's  voyages  is  told  else- 
where. He  was  welcomed  back  to  Chippewyan  by 
Norman  McLeod  on  October  the  12th  at  3  p.  m., 
and  spent  the  winter  there  with  his  cousin,  Rory. 
Hurrying  to  Lake  Superior  with  his  report  next  sum- 
mer, Alexander  MacKenzie  suffered  profound  dis- 
appointment.   He  was  received  coldly.    The  truth 

59 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

is,  the  old  guard  of  the  original  Nor'Westers — Simon 
McTavish  and  the  Frobishers — were  jealous  of  the 
men,  who  had  come  in  as  partners  from  the  Little 
Company.  They  had  no  mind  to  see  honors  cap- 
tured by  a  young  fellow  like  MacKenzie,  who  had 
only  two  shares  in  the  Company,  or  $8000  worth  of 
stock,  compared  to  their  own  six  shares  or  $24,000, 
and  found  bitter  fault  with  the  returns  of  furs  from 
Athabasca,  and  this  hostility  lasted  till  McTavish' s 
death  in  1804.  MacKenzie  came  back  to  pass  a 
depressing  winter  ('go-'gi)  at  Chippewyan  when 
he  dispatched  hunters  down  the  newly  discovered 
river,  which  he  ironically  called  "River  Disappoint- 
ment." But  events  were  occurring  that  spurred  his 
thoughts.  Down  at  the  meeting  of  the  partners  he 
had  heard  how  Astor  was  gathering  the  American 
furs  west  of  the  Great  Lakes;  how  the  Russians 
were  gathering  an  equally  rich  harvest  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  Down  among  the  Hare  Indians  of  Mac- 
Kenzie River,  he  had  heard  of  white  traders  on  the 
West  coast.  If  a  boat  pushed  up  Peace  River  from 
Athabaska  Lake,  could  it  portage  across  to  that 
west  coast?  The  question  stuck  and  rankled  in 
MacKenzie's  mind.  ''Be  sure  to  question  the  In- 
dians about  Peace  River,"  he  ordered  all  his  winter 
hunters.  Then  came  the  Hudson's  Bay  men  to 
Athabasca:   Turner,   the   astronomer,   and   Howse, 

60 


**The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


who  had  been  to  the  mountains.  If  the  Nor'Westers 
were  to  be  on  the  Pacific  Coast  first,  they  must  bestir 
themselves.  MacKenzie  quietly  asked  leave  of 
absence  in  the  winter  of  '91-92,  and  went  home  to 
study  in  England  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  take 
more  accurate  astronomic  observations.  The  sum- 
mer of  '92  found  him  back  on  the  field  appointed  to 
Peace  River  district. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  men  had  failed  to  pass  through 
the  country  beyond  the  mountains.  Turner  and 
Howse  had  gone  down  to  Edmonton.  Thompson, 
the  surveyor,  left  the  English  Company  and  coming 
overland  to  Lake  Superior,  joined  the  Nor'Westers. 
It  was  still  possible  for  MacKenzie  to  be  first  across 
the  mountains. 

The  fur  traders  had  already  advanced  up  Peace 
River  and  half  a  dozen  forts  were  strung  up  stream 
toward  the  Rockies.  By  October  of  '92,  MacKenzie 
advanced  beyond  them  all  to  the  Forks  on  the  east 
side  and  there  erected  a  fort.  By  May,  he  had  dis- 
patched the  eastern  brigade.  Then  picking  out  a 
crew  of  six  Frenchmen  and  two  Indians,  with  Alex- 
ander McKay  as  second  in  command,  McKenzie 
launched  out  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of 
May  9,  1793,  from  the  Forks  of  Peace  River  in  a 
birch  canoe  of  three  thousand  pounds  capacity. 

If  the  voyage  to  the  Arctic  had  been  difficult,  it 

61 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  child's  play  compared  to  this.  As  the  canoe 
entered  the  mountains,  the  current  became  boister- 
ously swift.  It  was  necessary  to  track  the  boat  up 
stream.  The  banks  of  the  river  grew  so  precipitous 
that  the  men  could  barely  keep  foothold  to  haul 
the  canoe  along  with  a  one  hundred  and  eighty-foot 
rope.  MacKenzie  led  the  way  cutting  steps  in  the 
cliff,  his  men  following,  stepping  from  his  shoulder 
to  the  shaft  of  his  axe  and  from  the  axe  to  the  place 
he  had  cut,  the  torrent  roaring  and  re-echoing  below 
through  the  narrow  gorge.  Sulphur  springs  were 
passed,  the  out-cropping  of  coal  seams,  vistas  on  the 
frosted  mountains  opening  to  beautiful  uplands, 
where  elk  and  moose  roamed.  An  old  Indian  had 
told  MacKenzie  that  when  he  passed  over  the  moun- 
tains, Peace  River  would  divide — one  stream,  now 
known  as  the  Finlay,  coming  from  the  north;  the 
other  fork,  now  known  as  the  Parsnip,  from  the 
south.  MacKenzie,  the  old  guide  said,  should  as- 
cend the  south;  but  it  was  no  easy  matter  passing 
the  mountains.  The  gorge  finally  narrowed  to  sheer 
walls  with  a  raging  maelstrom  in  place  of  a  river. 
The  canoe  had  to  be  portaged  over  the  crest  of  a 
peak  for  nine  miles — MacKenzie  leading  the  way 
chopping  a  trail,  the  men  following  laying  the  fallen 
trees  like  the  railing  of  a  stair  as  an  outer  guard  up 
the  steep  ascent.    Only  three  miles  a  day  were  made. 

62 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars''' 


Clothes  and  moccasins  were  cut  to  shreds  by  brush- 
wood, and  the  men  were  so  exhausted  they  lay  down 
in  blanket  coats  to  sleep  at  four  in  the  afternoon, 
close  to  the  edge  of  the  upper  snow  fields.  Mac- 
Kenzie  wrote  letters,  enclosed  them  in  empty  kegs, 
threw  the  kegs  into  the  raging  torrent  and  so  sent 
back  word  of  his  progress  to  the  fort.  Constantly, 
on  the  Uplands,  the  men  were  startled  by  rocketing 
echoes  like  the  discharge  of  a  gun,  when  they  would 
pass  the  night  in  alarm,  each  man  sitting  with  his 
back  to  a  tree  and  musket  across  his  knees,  but  the 
rocketing  echoes — so  weird  and  soul-stirring  in  the 
loneliness  of  a  silence  that  is  audible — were  from 
huge  rocks  splitting  off  some  precipice.  Sometimes 
a  boom  of  thunder  would  set  the  mountains  rolling. 
From  a  far  snow  field  hanging  in  ponderous  cornice 
over  bottomless  depths  would  puff  up  a  thin,  white 
line  like  a  snow  cataract,  the  distant  avalanche  of 
which  the  boom  was  the  echo.  Once  across  the 
divide,  the  men  passed  from  the  bare  snow  uplands 
to  the  cloud  line,  where  seas  of  tossing  mist  blotted 
out  earth,  and  from  cloud  line  to  the  Alpine  valleys 
with  larch-grown  meadows  and  painters'  flowers 
knee  deep,  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  Beside  a 
rill  trickling  from  the  ice  fields  pause  would  be  made 
for  a  meal.  Then  came  tree  line,  the  spruce  and 
hemlock  forests — gigantic  trees,  branches  interlaced, 

63 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

festooned  by  a  mist-like  moss  that  hung  from  tree  to 
tree  in  loops,  with  the  windfall  of  untold  centuries 
piled  criss-cross  below  higher  than  a  house.  The 
men  grumbled.  They  had  not  bargained  on  this 
kind  of  voyaging. 

Once  down  on  the  west  side  of  the  Great  Divide, 
there  were  the  Forks.  MacKenzie's  instincts  told 
him  the  north  branch  looked  the  better  way,  but  the 
•  old  guide  had  said  only  the  south  branch  would  lead 
to  the  Great  River  beyond  the  mountains,  and"  they 
turned  up  Parsnip  River  through  a  marsh  of  beaver 
meadows,  which  MacKenzie  noted  for  future  trade. 

It  was  now  the  3rd  of  June.  MacKenzie  ascended 
a  mountain  to  look  along  the  forward  path.  When 
he  came  down  with  McKay  and  the  Indian  Cancre, 
no  canoe  was  to  be  found.  MacKenzie  sent  broken 
branches  drifting  down  stream  as  a  signal  and  fired 
gunshot  after  gunshot,  but  no  answer!  Had  the 
men  deserted  with  boat  and  provisions?  Genuinely 
alarmed,  MacKenzie  ordered  McKay  and  Cancre 
back  down  the  Parsnip,  while  he  went  on  up  stream. 
Whichever  found  the  canoe  was  to  fire  a  gun.  For 
a  day  without  food  and  in  drenching  rains,  the  three 
tore  through  the  underbrush  shouting,  seeking, 
despairing  till  strength  was  exhausted  and  moccasins 
worn  to  tatters.  Barefoot  and  soaked,  MacKenzie 
was  just  lying  down  for  the  night  when  a  crashing 

64 


**The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'^ 


echo  told  him  McKay  had  found  the  deserters. 
They  had  waited  till  he  had  disappeared  up  the 
mountain,  then  headed  the  canoe  north  and  drifted 
down  stream.  The  Indians  were  openly  panic- 
stricken  and  wanted  to  build  a  raft  to  float  home. 
The  French  voyageurs  pretended  they  had  been 
delayed  mending  the  canoe.  MacKenzie  took  no 
outward  notice  of  the  treachery,  but  henceforth 
never  let  the  crew  out  of  his  own  or  McKay's  sight. 
A  week  later,  Indians  were  met  who  told  Mac- 
Kenzie of  the  Carrier  tribes,  inlanders,  who  bartered 
with  the  Indians  on  the  sea.  One  old  man  drew  a 
birch  bark  map  of  how  the  Parsnip  led  to  a  portage 
overland  to  another  river  flowing  to  the  sea.  Prom- 
ising to  return  in  two  moons  (months),  MacKenzie 
embarked  with  an  Indian  for  guide.  On  the  evening 
of  June  1 2th,  they  entered  a  little  lake,  the  source 
of  Peace  River.  A  beaten  path  led  over  a  low  ridge 
to  another  little  lake — the  source  of  the  river  that 
flowed  to  the  Pacific.  This  was  Bad  River,  a  branch 
of  the  Fraser,  though  MacKenzie  thought  it  was  a 
branch  of  the  Great  River — the  Columbia.  The 
little  lake  soon  narrowed  to  a  swift  torrent,  which 
swept  the  canoe  along  like  a  chip.  MacKenzie 
wanted  to  walk  along  the  shore,  for  some  one  should 
go  ahead  to  look  out  for  rapids,  but  the  crew  insisted 
if  they  were  to  perish,  he  must  perish  with  them,  and 

65 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

all  hands  embarked.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
canoe  was  presently  caught  in  a  swirl.  A  rock 
banged  through  the  bottom  tearing  away  the  keel. 
Round  swung  the  tottering  craft  to  the  rush!  An- 
other smash,  and  out  went  the  bow,  the  canoe  flat- 
tening like  a  board,  the  Indians  weeping  aloud  on 
top  of  the  baggage,  the  voyageurs  paralyzed  with 
fear,  hanging  to  the  gun'els.  On  swept  the  wrecked 
canoe !  The  foreman  frantically  grabbed  the  branch 
of  an  overhanging  tree.  It  jerked  him  bodily  ashore 
and  the  canoe  flat  as  a  flap-jack  came  to  a  stop  in 
shallow  sands. 

There  was  not  much  said  for  some  minutes.  Bad 
River  won  a  reputation  that  it  has  ever  since  sus- 
tained. All  the  bullets  were  lost.  Powder  and  bag- 
gage had  to  be  fished  up  and  spread  out  to  dry  in  the 
sun.  One  dazed  voyageur  walked  across  the  spread- 
out  powder  with  a  pipe  between  his  teeth  when  a 
yell  of  warning  that  he  might  blow  them  all  to 
eternity — brought  him  to  his  senses  and  relieved  the 
terrific  tension. 

The  men  were  treated  to  a  regale,  and  then  sent  to 
hunt  bark  for  a  fresh  canoe.  There  now  succeeded 
such  an  impenetrable  morass  blocked  by  windfall 
that  the  voyageurs  made  only  two  miles  a  day. 
Though  MacKenzie  and  McKay  watched  their 
guide  by  turns  at  night,  he  succeeded  in  escaping, 

66 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'* 


and  the  white  men  must  risk  meeting  the  inland 
Carriers  without  an  interpreter.  On  the  15th  of 
June,  Bad  River  turned  westward  into  the  Fraser. 
Of  his  parley  with  the  Carriers,  there  is  no  space  to 
tell.  I  have  told  the  story  in  another  volume,  but 
somewhere  between  what  are  now  known  as  Quesnel 
and  Alexandria — named  after  him — it  became  ap- 
parent that  the  river  was  leading  too  far  south. 
Besides,  the  passage  was  utterly  impassable.  Mac- 
Kenzie  headed  his  canoe  back  up  the  western  fork 
of  the  Fraser — the  Blackwater  River,  and  thence  on 
July  4th,  leaving  the  canoe  and  caching  provisions, 
struck  overland  and  westward.  The  Pacific  was 
reached  on  the  22nd  of  July,  1793,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bella  Coola.  By  the  end  of  August  he  was  back  at 
the  Forks  on  Peace  River,  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
Chippewyan  on  Athabasca  Lake,  where  he  passed 
the  winter. 


67 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

I 780-1810 

"the    coming    of   the   pedlars"    continued — 
mackenzie    and    mctavish    quarrel  —  the 

nor' WESTERS  INVADE  HUDSON  BAY  WATERS 
AND  CHALLENGE  THE  CHARTER — RUFFIANISM  OF 
nor' WESTERS^— MURDER  AND  BOYCOTT  OF  HUD- 
SON'S BAY  MEN— UP-TO-DATE  COMMERCIALISM 
AS  CONDUCTED  IN  TERMS  OF  A  CLUB  AND 
WITHOUT    LAW. 

THE  next  spring,  MacKenzie  left  the  West 
forever.  Again  his  report  of  discovery 
was  coldly  received  by  the  partners  on 
Lake  Superior.  The  smoldering  jealousy  between 
Simon  McTavish  of  the  old  Nor'Westers  and  Alex- 
ander MacKenzie  broke  out  in  flame.  MacKenzie 
seceded  from  the  Nor'Westers  and  with  Pierre  de 
Rocheblave  and  the  Ogilvies  of  Montreal  reorgan- 
ized the  Little  Company  variously  known  as  "The 
Potties,"  from  "Les  Petits,"  and  "the  X.  Y.'s" 
from  the  stamp  on  their  pelts,  X.  Y.,  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  N.  W.  MacKenzie's  Journal  was 
published.  He  was  given  a  title  in  recognition  of 
his  services  to  the  Empire.    Now  in  possession  of  an 

68 


""The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


independent  and  growing  fortune,  he  bought  him- 
self an  estate  in  Scotland  where  the  fame  of  his 
journal  attracted  the  attention  of  another  brilliant 
young  Scotchman — Lord  Selkirk.  The  two  became 
acquainted  and  talked  over  plans  of  forming  a  vast 
company,  that  would  include  not  only  the  X.  Y.'s 
and  Nor'Westers,  but  the  Hudson's  Bay  and  Russian 
companies.  Hudson's  Bay  stock  had  fallen  from 
£250  to  ;i^5o  a  share.  With  the  aim  of  a  union,  Mac- 
Kenzie  and  Selkirk  began  buying  shares  in  the  Hud- 
son's Bay,  and  Selkirk  comes  on  a  visit  to  Canada. 
Meanwhile— out  in  Canada — Simon  McTavish, 
"the  Marquis,"  was  not  idle  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  The  Hudson's  Bay  had  barred  out  other 
traders  from  Labrador.  Good!  Simon  McTavish 
accepted  the  challenge,  and  from  the  government  of 
Canada  rented  the  old  King's  Domain  of  Southern 
Labrador  for  £1000  a  year.  The  English  company 
had  forbidden  interlopers  on  the  waters  of  Hudson 
Bay.  Good!  The  Nor'Westers  accepted  that  chal- 
lenge. Duncan  McGillivray,  a  nephew  of  Mc- 
Tavish, dictates  a  letter  to  the  ancient  English  com- 
pany begging  them  to  sue  him  for  what  he  is  going 
to  do,  so  that  the  case  may  be  forever  settled  in  the 
courts.  Then  he  hires  Captain  Richards  away  from 
the  Company  and  sends  him  on  the  ship  Eddystone, 
in  1803,  straight  into  Hudson  Bay,  to  establish  a 

69 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

trading  post  at  Charlton  Island  and  another  at  Moose 
for  the  Nor'Westers.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
declines  the  challenge.  They  will  not  sue  the  North- 
West  Company  and  so  revive  the  whole  question  of 
their  charter;  but  they  sue  their  old  Captain,  John 
Richards,  and  order  Mr.  Geddes  to  hire  more  men 
in  the  Orkneys,  and  they  freeze  those  interlopers  out 
of  the  bay  by  bribing  the  Indians  so  that  Simon 
McTavish's  men  retire  from  Charlton  and  Moose 
with  loss.  And  the  English  Adventurers  go  one 
farther:  they  petition  Parliament,  in  1805,  for  "au- 
thority to  deal  with  crimes  committed  in  the  Indian 
country." 

Simon  McTavish  dies  in  1804.  The  X.  Y.'s  and 
the  Nor'Westers  unite,  and  well  they  do,  for  clashes 
are  increasing  between  Hudson's  Bays  and  Nor'- 
Westers, between  English  and  French,  from  Lake 
Superior  to  the  Rockies. 

Down  at  Nipigon  in  1800,  where  Duncan  Cameron 
had  attracted  the  Indians  away  from  Albany,  first 
blood  is  shed.  Young  Labau,  a  Frenchman,  whose 
goods  have  been  advanced  by  the  Nor'Westers, 
deserts  for  the  Hudson's  Bay.  Schultz,  the  North- 
west clerk,  pursues  and  orders  the  young  Frenchman 
back.  Labau  offers  to  pay  for  the  goods,  but  he  will 
not  go  back  to  the  Northwest  Company.  Schultz 
draws  his  dagger  and  stabs  the  boy  to  death.     For 

70 


*'The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


this,  he  is  dismissed  by  the  Nor' Westers,  but  no  other 
punishment  follows  for  the  murder. 

Albany  River  at  this  time  was  the  trail  inland  from 
Hudson  Bay  to  the  plains,  to  the  Red  River  and  the 
Missouri  and  modem  Edmonton.  The  Nor'Westers 
determined  to  block  this  trail.  The  Northwest 
partner,  Haldane,  came  to  Bad  Lake  in  1806  with 
five  voyageurs  and  knocked  up  quarters  for  them- 
selves near  the  Hudson's  Bay  cabins.  By  May, 
William  Corrigal,  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  had  four 
hundred  and  eighty  packs  of  furs.  One  night,  when 
all  the  English  were  asleep,  the  Nor'West  bullies 
marched  across,  broke  into  the  cabins,  placed  pistols 
at  the  head  of  Corrigal  and  his  men,  and  plundered 
the  place  of  furs.  Never  dreaming  that  Haldane, 
the  Northwest  partner,  would  countenance  open 
robbery,  Corrigal  dressed-  and  went  across  to  the 
Northwest  house  to  complain. 

Haldane  met  the  complaint  with  a  loud  guffaw. 
"I  have  come  to  this  country  for  furs,"  he  explained, 
"and  I  have  found  them,  and  I  intend  to  keep  them." 

Red  Lake  in  Minnesota  belonged  to  the  same 
Albany  department.  Before  Corrigal  could  dispatch 
the  furs  to  the  bay,  Haldane's  bullies  swooped  down 
and  pillaged  the  cabins  there,  this  time  not  only  of 
furs,  but  provisions. 

Up  at  Big  Falls  near  Lake  Winnipeg,  John  Crear 

71 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  five  men  had  built  a  fort  for  the  English.  One 
night  toward  fall  a  party  of  Northwest  voyageurs, 
led  by  Alexander  MacDonell,  landed  and  camped. 
Next  morning  when  all  of  Crear's  men  had  gone 
fishing  but  two,  MacDonell  marched  to  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  house,  accused  Crear  of  taking  furs  owed 
in  debt  to  the  Nor' Westers,  and  on  that  excuse  broke 
open  the  warehouse.  Plowman,  a  Hudson's  Bay 
hunter,  sprang  to  prevent.  Quick  as  flash,  Mac- 
Donell's  dagger  was  out.  Plowman  fell  stabbed 
and  the  voyageurs  had  clubbed  Crear  to  earth  with 
the  butt  ends  of  their  rifles.  Furs  and  provisions  were 
carried  off.  As  if  this  were  not  enough  and  ample 
proof  that  the  accusation  had  simply  been  an  excuse 
to  drive  the  Hudson's  Bay  men  off  the  field,  Mac- 
Donell came  back  in  February  of  1807,  surrounded 
Crear's  house  with  bullies,  robbed  it  of  everything 
and  had  Crear  beaten  till  he  signed  a  paper  declaring 
he  had  sold  the  furs  and  that  he  would  never  again 
come  to  the  country. 

This  was  no  fur  trading.  It  w^as  raiding — such 
raiding  as  the  Highlanders  carried  into  the  Low- 
lands of  Scotland.  It  was  a  banditti  warfare  that 
was  bound  to  bring  its  own  punishment. 

Besides  Albany  River,  the  two  great  river  trails 
inland  to  the  plains  from  Hudson's  Bay  were  by 
Churchill  River  to  Athabasca  and  by  Hayes  River  to 

72 


The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars' ' 


Cumberland  House  on  the  Saskatchewan.  From 
1805  J.  D.  Campbell  was  the  Northwest  partner  ap- 
pointed to  block  the  advance  inland  to  this  region. 
John  Spencer  was  at  Reindeer  Lake  for  the  Hudson's 
Bay  in  1808.  Knowing  when  the  Indians  from  the 
Athabasca  were  due,  he  had  sent  William  Linklater 
out  to  meet  them,  and  Linklater  was  snowshoeing 
leisurely  homeward  drawing  the  furs  on  a  toboggan, 
when  toward  nightfall  he  suddenly  met  the  North- 
west partner  and  his  bullies  on  the  trail.  There 
was  the  usual  pretence  that  the  furs  were  a  debt  owed 
to  the  Nor'Westers,  and  the  hollowness  of  that  pre- 
tence was  shown  by  the  fact  that  before  Linklater 
could  answer,  a  Northwest  bully  had  seized  his 
snowshoes  and  sent  him  sprawling.  Campbell  and 
the  bullies  then  marched  off  with  the  furs.  This 
happened  twice  at  Caribou  Lake. 

But  the  worst  warfare  waged  round  Isle  a  la 
Crosse,  the  gateway  to  Athabasca.  Peter  Fidler 
went  there  in  1806  with  eighteen  men  for  the  Hud- 
son's Bay.  Then  came  J.  D.  Campbell,  the  Nor'- 
Wester,  with  an  army  of  bullies,  forbidding  the 
Indians  to  enter  Fidler's  fort  or  Fidler  and  his  men 
to  stir  beyond  a  line  drawn  on  the  sands.  On  this 
line  was  built  a  Nor'Wcst  sentry  box,  where  the 
bullies  kept  guard  night  and  day.  For  three  years, 
Peter  Fidler  stuck  it  out,  sending  men  across  the  line 

73 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

secretly  at  night,  directing  the  Indians  by  a  detour 
down  to  the  other  Hudson's  Bay  forts  and  in  a  hun- 
dred ways  circumventing  his  enemies.  Then  Camp- 
bell's bullies  became  bolder.  Fidler's  firewood  was 
stolen,  his  fish  nets  cut,  his  canoes  hacked  to  pieces. 
He  was  literally  starved  off  the  field  and  compelled 
to  retire  in  1809. 

Down  in  Albany,  things  were  going  from  bad  to 
worse  with  Corrigal.  The  contest  concentrated  at 
Eagle  Lake,  half  "way  between  Lake  Superior  and 
Lake  Winnipeg  just  where  Wabigoon  River  inter- 
sects with  the  modern  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad. 
The  English  company  had  strengthened  Corrigal 
with  more  Orkneymen,  and  he  had  a  strongly  pali- 
saded fort.  But  the  Nor'Westers  set  the  Mac- 
Donell  clan  with  their  French  bullies  on  his  trail. 

An  Indian  had  come  to  the  post  in  September. 
Corrigal  outfitted  him  with  merchandise  for  the 
winter's  hunt,  and  three  English  servants  accom- 
panied the  Saulteur  down  to  the  shore.  Out  rushed 
the  Nor'Wester,  MacDonell,  flourishing  his  sword 
accompanied  by  a  bully,  Adhemer,  raging  aloud  that 
the  Indian  had  owed  furs  to  the  Nor'Westers  and 
should  not  be  allowed  to  hunt  for  the  Hudson's  Bay. 
The  two  Corrigal  brothers  and  one  Tait  ran  from 
the  post  to  the  rescue.  With  one  sweep  of  his  sword 
Eneas  MacDonell  cut  Tait's  wrist  off  and  with  an- 

74 


"T/te  Coming  of  the  Pedlars" 


other  hack  on  his  neck  felled  him  to  the  ground. 
The  French  bully  had  aimed  a  loaded  pistol  at  the 
Corrigals  daring  them  to  take  one  step  forward. 
John  Corrigal  dodged  into  the  lake.  MacDonell 
then  rushed  at  the  Englishmen  like  a  mad  man, 
cutting  off  the  arm  of  one,  sending  a  hat  flying  from 
another  whose  head  he  missed,  hacking  the  shoulder 
of  a  third.  Unarmed,  the  Hudson's  Bay  men  fled 
for  the  fort  gates.  The  Nor'Westers  pursued.  Com- 
ing from  the  house  door,  John  Mowat,  a  Hudson's 
Bay  man,  drew  his  pistol  and  shot  Eneas  MacDonell 
dead.  Coureurs  went  flying  to  Northwest  camps 
for  reinforcements.  Haldane  and  McLellan,  two 
partners,  came  with  a  rowdy  crew  and  threatened 
if  Mowat  were  not  surrendered  they  would  have  the 
Indians  butcher  every  soul  in  the  fort  if  it  cost  a  keg 
of  rum  for  every  scalp.  Mowat  promptly  surren- 
dered and  declared  he  would  shoot  any  Nor'Wester 
on  the  same  provocation. 

For  this  crime  and  before  the  Company  in  Eng- 
land could  be  notified,  Mowat  was  carried  away  in 
irons.  Two  servants  —  McNab  and  Russell — and 
one  of  the  Corrigals  volunteered  to  accompany  him  as 
witnesses  for  the  defense.  For  a  winter  Mowat 
was  imprisoned  in  the  miserable  butter  vat'of  a  jail 
at  Fort  William,  and  when  it  was  found  that  every 
indignity  and  insult  would  not  drive  the  three  wit- 

75 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

nesses  away,  they  were  arrested  as  abettors  of  the  so- 
called  crime.  At  Mowat's  trial  in  Montreal,  of  the 
four  judges  who  presided,  one  was  notoriously  cor- 
rupt and  two,  the  fathers  of  Northwest  partners. 
Of  the  jury,  half  the  number  were  Nor'Westers. 
Naturally,  Mowat  was  pronounced  guilty.  He  was 
sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment  and  brand- 
ing. When  he  was  discharged  penniless,  he  set  out 
through  the  United  States  to  take  ship  for  England. 
It  is  supposed  that  he  was  lost  in  a  storm,  or  drowned 
crossing  some  of  the  New  England  rivers. 

The  rivalry  between  Hudson's  Bay  and  Nor'- 
Westers had  become  lawless  outrage.  The  Com- 
pany in  England  is  meantime  having  troubles  of  its 
own.  The  English  government  desires  them  in 
1807  to  state  what  "the  boundaries  of  Louisiana 
ought  to  be"  in  the  impending  treaty  with  the  United 
States,  which  is  to  give  access  for  American  traders 
to  the  country  north  of  Louisiana  in  return  for  similar 
free  access  for  British  traders  to  American  territory. 
The  English  traders  state  what  the  boundaries  of 
Louisiana  ought  to  be,  and  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
English  shareholders  do  we  owe  in  this  case,  as  in  a 
hundred  others,  the  fifty  years'  boundary  dispute  as 
to  Hmits-from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  Oregon. 

As  for  reciprocity  of  access  to  each  other's  hunting 
field,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  opposes  it  furi- 

76 


''The  Coming  of  the  Pedlars'' 


ously.  Access  to  American  territory  they  already 
have  without  the  asking  and  are  likely  to  have  for 
another  fifty  years,  as  there  is  no  inhabitant  to  pre- 
vent them,  but  to  grant  the  Americans  access  to 
Hudson's  Bay  territory  is  another  matter;  so  in  the 
treaty  of  reciprocal  favors  across  each  other's  terri- 
tory, My  Lord  Holland  provides  "always  the  ac- 
tual settlements  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
excepted." 

If  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  is  to  hold  its  monop- 
oly by  virtue  of  settlements,  it  must  see  to  the  wel- 
fare of  those  settlements,  so  in  June,  1808,  the  first 
schoolmasters  of  the  Northwest  are  sent  out  at  sal- 
aries of  £30  a  year — James  Clouston,  and  Peter 
Sinclair,  and  George  Geddes.  There  is  no  dividend, 
owing  to  the  embargo  of  war,  and  the  Company  is 
driven,  in  1809,  to  petition  the  Lords  of  Trade  for 
help.  They  aver  there  are  six  hundred  families  at 
their  settlements,  that  the  yearly  outfits  cost  the 
Company  £40,000;  that  the  sales  never  exceed 
£30,000  and  this  year  are  only  £3,000;  they  apply 
for  remission  of  duty  on  furs  and  a  loan  of  £60,000 
from  the  imperial  treasury.  The  duty  is  remitted 
but  the  loan  is  not  granted,  and  My  Lord  Selkirk 
becomes,  by  virtue  of  having  purchased  nearly 
£40,000  of  stock,  a  leading  director  in  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.    My  Lord  Selkirk  has  been  out  to 

77 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Montreal.  He  has  been  feted  and  feasted  and 
dined  and  wined  by  the  Beaver  Club  of  the  Nor'- 
Westers,  whom  he  pumps  to  a  detail  about  the  fur 
trade.  Also  he  meets  John  Jacob  Astor  and  learns 
what  he  can  from  him.  Also  he  meets  that  North- 
west clerk  who  had  been  dismissed  up  the  Saskatche- 
wan and  came  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company — 
Colin  Robertson.  He  brings  Colin  Robertson  back 
with  him  to  England,  and  the  aforetime  North- 
west clerk  is  called  on  January  3,  18 10,  to  give  advice 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay  directors  on  the  stS,te  of  the  fur 
trade  in  Canada. 

But  to  return  to  that  Louisiana  Boundary — it  is 
as  great  a  shock  to  the  Nor' Westers  as  to  the  Hud- 
son's Bay.  In  the  first  place,  as  told  elsewhere,  the 
boundary  treaty  of  1798  has  compelled  them  to  move 
headquarters  from  Grand  Portage  to  Fort  William. 
The  Nor'Westers  suddenly  awaken  to  the  value  of 
Alexander  MacKenzie's  voyage  to  the  Pacific.  Sup- 
posing he  had  followed  that  great  river  on  down  to 
the  sea,  would  it  have  led  him  where  the  American, 
Robert  Gray,  found  the  Columbia,  and  where  the 
explorers,  Lewis  and  Clarke,  later  coming  overland 
from  the  Missouri,  wintered?  It  was  determined  to 
follow  MacKenzie's  explorations  up  with  all  speed. 
It  became  a  race  to  the  Pacific.    Which  fur  traders 

78 


'■'■The  ComiiKj  of  the  Pedlars''^ 


should  pre-empt  the  vast  domain  first — Hudson's 
Bay,  Astor's  Americans,  or  Nor'Westers? 

It  is  barely  twenty  years  since  Peter  Pond  came  to 
Athabasca  and  Peace  River  region,  but  already  there 
are  six  forts  between  Athabasca  Lake  and  the  Rockies 
— Vermilion  and  Encampment  Island  under  the 
management  of  the  half-breed  son  of  Sir  Alexander 
MacKenzie,then  Dunvegan  and  St.  John's  and  Rocky 
Mountain  House  managed  by  the  McGillivrays  and 
Archibald  Norman  McLeod.  By  1797,  James  Fin- 
lay  had  followed  MacKenzie's  trail  across  the  Di- 
vide, then  struck  up  the  north  branch  of  Peace  River, 
now  known  as  Finlay  River;  but  it  was  not  till  1805 
that  the  fur  traders,  who  made  flying  trips  across  the 
mountains,  remained  to  build  forts.  In  1793,  when 
MacKenzie  crossed  the  mountain,  there  had  joined 
the  Northwest  Company  as  clerk,  a  lad  of  nineteen, 
the  son  of  a  ruined  loyalist  in  New  York  State,  whose 
widow  came  to  live  in  Cornwall,  Ontario.  This 
boy  was  Simon  Fraser.  Two  years  later,  in  1795, 
there  had  come  to  the  Northwest  Company  from 
Hudson  Bay  that  English  surveyor,  David  Thomp- 
son, whom  the  MacKenzies  had  met  in  Athabasca 
working  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  traders.  David 
Thompson  had  been  born  in  1770  and  was  educated 
in  the  Blue  Coat  School,  London.  In  1789  he  had 
come  as  surveyor  to  Churchill  and  York,  penetrating 

79 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

inland  as  far  as  Athabasca;  but  Colen,  chief  factor 
of  York,  did  not  encourage  purely  scientific  explora- 
tions. Thompson  quit  the  English  service  in  dis- 
gust, coming  down  to  the  Nor'Westers  on  Lake 
Superior. 

These  were  the  two  young  men — Fraser,  son  of 
the  New  York  loyalist;  Thompson,  the  English  sur- 
veyor— that  the  Northwest  Company  appointed  in 
1805  to  explore  the  wilderness  beyond  the  Rockies. 


80 


CHAPTER  XXV 
1800-1810 

DAVID  THOMPSON,  THE  NOR'WESTER,  DASHES  FOR 
THE  COLUMBIA— HE  EXPLORES  EAST  KOOTENAY, 
WEST  KOOTENAY,  WASHINGTON  AND  OREGON, 
BUT  FINDS  ASTOR'S  MEN  ON  THE  FIELD — HOW 
THE  ASTORIANS  ARE  JOCKEYED  OUT  OF  ASTORIA 
— ERASER  FINDS  HIS  WAY  TO  THE  SEA  BY  AN- 
OTHER GREAT  RIVER. 

IET  US  follow  Thompson  first.    He  had  joined 
the  Nor'Westers  just  when  the  question  of 
the  International  Boundary  was  in  dispute 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States. 

(i)  In  1796,  lest  other  Northwest  forts  were  south 
of  the  Boundary,  he  first  explored  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior to  Rainy  Lake  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and 
Winnipeg  River  and  Winnipeg  Lake,  advancing  as 
fast  as  the  brigades  traveled,  running  his  lines  at 
lightning  pace.  Then  he  struck  across  to  Lake 
Manitoba  and  the  Assiniboine  and  Qu'  Appelle.  His 
first  survey  practically  ran  in  a  circle  round  the 
bounds  of  the  modem  Manitoba,  except  on  the  south. 
(2)   After  wintering  on  the  Assiniboine,  he  pre- 

81 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

pared  in  the  summer  of  1797  for  exploration  south 
to  the  ^lissouri,  but  his  work  must  pay  in  coin  of 
the  realm  to  the  Company.  This  was  accomplished 
by  Thompson  obtaining  credit  from  McDonell  of 
the  Assiniboine  Department  for  goods  to  trade  with 
the  Mandanes.  With  three  horses,  thirty-eight  dogs 
and  several  voyageurs,  he  set  out  southwest,  in  mid- 
winter, 1797.  This  was  long  before  Henry  or  Cha- 
boillez  of  the  Assiniboine  had  sent  men  from  Pem- 
bina to  the  Missouri.  The  cold  was  terrific.  The 
winds  blew  keen  as  whip  lashes,  and  the  journey  of 
three  hundred  miles  lasted  a  month.  To  Thomp- 
son's amazement,  he  found  Hudson's  Bay  traders 
from  the  Albany  Department  on  the  Missouri.  They 
must  have  come  south  across  Minnesota. 

(3)  By  February  of  '98,  Thompson  was  back  on 
the  Assiniboine,  and  now  to  complete  the  southern 
survey  of  Manitoba,  he  struck  east  for  Red  River, 
and  in  March  up  Red  River  to  Pembina  where  the 
partner,  Charles  Chaboillez,  happened  to  be  in 
charge..  No  doubt  it  was  what  Thompson  told 
Chaboillez  of  the  Missouri  that  induced  the  Nor'- 
Westers  to  go  there.  Still  ascending  the  Red, 
Thompson  passed  Grand  Forks — then  a  cluster  of 
log  houses  inhabited  by  traders — and  struck  east- 
ward through  what  is  now  Minnesota  to  that  Red 
Lake,  where  Hudson's  Bays  and  Nor'Westers  were 

82 


David  TJuynipson 


to  have  such  bitter  fights.  Six  miles  farther  east  he 
made  the  mistake  of  thinking  he  had  found  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi  in  Turtle  Lake.  Still 
pressing  eastward,  he  came  to  Lake  Superior  and 
along  the  north  shore  to  the  Company's  headquarters. 
From  1799  to  1805  he  ranges  up  the  South  Sas- 
katchewan to  that  old  Bow  Fort  near  Banff;  then  up 
the  North  Saskatchewan  all  the  way  from  Lesser 
Slave  Lake  to  Athabasca.  This,  then,  was  the  man 
whom  the  Nor'Westers  now  appointed  to  explore  the 
Rockies. 

Only  two  passes  across  the  mountains  north  of 
Bow  River  were  known  to  the  fur  traders — Peace 
River  Pass  and  Howse  River  Pass  of  the  Upper  Sas- 
katchewan. It  was  perfectly  natural  that  Thomp- 
son should  follow  the  latter — the  trail  of  his  old  co- 
workers in  the  Hudson's  Bay  service.  Striking  up 
the  Saskatchewan  from  Edmonton  in  the  fall  of 
1806,  by  October  Thompson  was  in  that  wonderful 
glacier  field  which  has  only  been  thoroughly  ex- 
plored in  recent  days — where  Howse  River  leads  over 
to  a  branch  of  the  Blaeberry  Creek,  with  Mt.  Hector 
and  Mt.  Thompson  and  Mt.  Balfour  and  the  beau- 
tiful Bow  Lakes  on  the  southeast;  and  Mt.  Bryce, 
and  Mt.  Athabasca  and  Mt.  Stutfield  and  the  won- 
derful Freshfield  Glaciers  on  the  northwest.  This 
is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  wonderful  glacial  fields 

83 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

of  the  world.  It  is  the  region  where  the  tourists  of 
Laggan,  and  Field,  and  Golden,  and  Donald  strike 
north  up  the  Pipestone  and  Bow  and  Blaeberry 
Creek — raging  torrents  all  of  them,  not  in  the  least 
like  creeks,  broad  as  the  Upper  Hudson,  or  the 
Thames  at  Chelsea,  wild  as  the  cataracts  of  the  St. 
Lawrente.  From  the  Pipestone,  or  Bow,  or  Blae- 
berry, one  can  pass  northeast  down  to  the  tributaries 
of  the  Saskatchewan.  Cloud-capped  mountains, 
whose  upland  meadows  present  fields  of  eternal 
snow,  line  each  side  of  the  river.  Once  when  I  at- 
tempted to  enter  this  region  by  pack  horse  late  in 
September,  we  wakened  below  Mt.  Hector  to  find 
eight  inches  of  snow  on  our  tent  roof,  the  river  swollen 
to  a  rolling  lake,  the  valley  swamped  high  as  the 
pack  horses'  saddles. 

Hither  came  Thompson  by  a  branch  of  the  Sas- 
katchewan, and  Howse's  River  and  Howse's  Pass 
to  Blaeberry  Creek.  Dense  spruce  and  hemlock 
forests  covered  the  mountains  to  the  water's  edge. 
The  scream  of  the  eagle  perched  on  some  dead  tree, 
the  lonely  whistle  of  the  hoary  marmot — a  kind  of 
large  rock  squirrel — the  roar  of  the  waters  swelling 
to  a  great  chorus  during  mid-day  sun,  fading  to  a 
long-drawn,  sibilant  hush  during  the  cool  of  night, 
the  soughing  of  the  winds  through  the  great  forests 
like  the  tide  of  a  sea — only  emphasize  the  solitude, 

84 


Dairid  Thompson 


the  stillness,  the  utter  aloneness  of  feeling  that  comes 
over  man  amid  such  wilderness  grandeur. 

On  the  Upper  Blaeberry,  Thompson  constructs  a 
rough  log  raft— safer  than  canoe,  for  it  will  neither 
sink  nor  upset — whipsawing  two  long  logs  over  a 
dozen  spruce  rollers.  A  sapling  tree  for  a  pole, 
packs  in  a  heap  in  the  center  on  brush  boughs  to  keep 
them  free  of  damp,  and  down  the  Blaeberry  whirls 
the  explorer  with  his  Indian  guides.  Here,  the 
water  is  clearest  crystal  from  the  upland  snows. 
There,  it  becomes  milky  with  the  silt  of  glaciers 
grinding  over  stone  beds;  and  glimpses  through  the 
forests  reveal  the  boundless  ice  fields.  By  October, 
snow  begins  to  fall  on  the  uplands.  The  hoary  ever- 
greens become  heaped  with  drifts  in  huge  mush- 
rooms. The  upper  snow  fields  curl  over  the  edges 
of  lofty  precipices  in  great  cornices  that  break  and 
fall  with  the  boom  of  thunder,  setting  the  avalanches 
roaring  down  the  mountain  flanks,  sweeping  the  slopes 
clean  of  forests  as  if  leveled  by  some  giant  trowel. 

Somewhere  between  Howse's  Pass  and  the  Blae- 
berry, Thompson  had  wintered,  following  his  old 
custom  of  making  the  explorations  pay  by  having 
his  men  trap  and  hunt  and  trade  with  the  Sarcecs 
and  Kootenay  Indians  as  he  traveled.  Advancing 
in  this  slow  way,  it  was  June  of  1807  before  he  had 
launched  his  raft  on  the  Blaeberry.    Spring  thaw 

85 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

has  set  the  torrents  roaring.  The  river  is  a  swollen 
flood  that  sweeps  the  voyageurs  through  the  forests, 
past  the  glaciers,  on  down  to  a  great  river,  which 
Thompson  does  not  recognize  but  which  is  the 
Columbia  just  where  it  takes  a  great  bend  north- 
ward at  the  modern  railway  stations  of  Moberly  and 
Golden. 

But  the  question  is — which  way  to  go?  The  river 
is  flowing  north,  not  south  to  the  sea,  as  Alexander 
MacKenzie  thought.  Thompson  does  not  guess 
this  is  not  the  river,  which  MacKenzie  saw.  "May 
God  in  His  mercy  give  me  to  see  where  the  waters 
oj  this  river  flozu  to  the  western  ocean /^  records  Thomp- 
son in  his  journal  of  June  22nd;  but  if  he  goes  north, 
that  will  lead  to  a  great  detour — that  much  he  can 
guess  from  what  the  Indians  tell  him — the  Big  Bend 
of  the  Columbia.  He  is  facing  the  Rockies  on  the 
east.  On  the  west  are  the  Selkirks.  He  does  not 
know  that  after  a  great  circle  about  the  north  end 
of  the  Selkirks,  the  Columbia  will  come  down  south 
again  through  West  Kootenay  between  the  Selkirks 
and  the  Gold  Range.  To  Thompson,  it  seems  that 
he  will  reach  the  Pacific  soonest,  where  American 
traders  are  heading,  by  ascending  the  river;  so  he 
follows  through  East  Kootenay  southward  through 
Windermere  Lake  and  Columbia  Lake  to  the  sources 
of  the  Columbia  east  of  Nelson  Mountain.    There, 

86 


David  Thompson 


where  the  Windermere  of  to-day  exists,  he  builds  a 
fort  with  Montour,  the  Frenchman,  in  charge — the 
Upper  Kootenay  House.  Then  he  discovers  that 
beyond  the  sources  of  the  Columbia,  a  short  portage 
of  two  miles,  is  another  great  river  flowing  south — 
the  Kootenay.  The  portage  he  names  after  the 
Northwest  partner — McGillivray,  also  the  river, 
which  we  now  know  as  Kootenay,  and  which  Thomp- 
son follows,  surveying  as  he  goes,  south  of  the  Boun- 
dary into  what  are  now  known  as  Idaho  and  Mon- 
tana, past  what  is  now  the  town  of  Jennings  and 
westerly  as  far  as  what  is  now  Bonner's  Ferry — the 
roaring  camp  of  old  construction  days  when  the 
Great  Northern  Railroad  passed  this  way.  Here 
Thompson  is  utterly  confused,  for  the  Kootenay 
River  turns  north  to  British  Columbia  again,  not 
west  to  the  Pacific,  and  he  has  no  time  to  follow  its 
winding  course.  His  year  is  up.  He  must  hasten 
eastward  with  his  report.  Leaving  the  fort  well 
manned,  Thompson  goes  back  the  way  he  has  come, 
by  Howse  Pass  down  the  Saskatchewan  to  Fort 
William. 

While  Thompson  is  East,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany of  Edmonton  is  not  idle.  Mr.  Howse,  who 
found  the  pass,  follows  Thompson's  tracks  over  the 
mountains  and  sets  hunters  ranging  the  forests  of 
the  Big  Bend  and  south  to  Kootenay  Lake. 

87 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

When  he  returns  to  the  mountains  in  1808,  Thomp- 
son joins  Henry's  brigade  coming  west  from  Pem- 
bina. It  is  September  when  they  reach  Edmonton, 
and  both  companies  have  by  this  time  built  fur 
posts  at  Howse's  Pass,  known  as  Rocky  Mountain 
House,  of  which  Henry  takes  charge  for  the  Nor'- 
Westers.  Sixteen  days  on  horseback  bring  Thomp- 
son to  the  mountains.  There  horses  are  exchanged 
for  dogs,  and  the  explorer  sleds  south  through  East 
Kootenay  to  Kootenay  House  on  Windermere  Lake, 
where  provisions  and  furs  are  stored,  Thompson 
winters  at  Windermere.  In  April  of  1809  he  sets 
out  for  the  modern  Idaho  and  Montana  and  estab- 
lishes trading  posts  on  the  Flathead  Lake  southeast, 
and  the  Pend  d' Oreille  Lakes  southwest,  leaving 
Firman  McDonald,  the  Highlander,  as  commander 
of  the  Flathead  Department,  with  McMillan  and 
Methode  and  Forcier  and  a  dozen  others  as  traders. 
He  is  back  in  Edmonton  by  June,  18 10 — "thank 
God" — he  ejaculates  in  his  diary,  and  at  once  pro- 
ceeds East,  where  he  learns  astounding  news  at  Fort 
William.  John  Jacob  Astor,  the  New  York  mer- 
chant, who  bought  Nor'Westers'  furs  at  Montreal, 
has  organized  a  Pacific  Fur  Company,  and  into  its 
ranks  he  has  lured  by  promise  of  partnership,  friends 
of  Thompson,  such  good  old  Nor'Westers  as  John 
Clarke — ''fighting    Clarke,"    he    was    called — and 

88 


David  Tfurmpson 


Duncan  McDougall  of  the  Athabasca,  and  that 
Alex.  McKay,  who  had  gone  to  the  Pacific  with  Sir 
Alexander  MacKenzie,  and  Donald  MacKenzie,  a 
relative  of  Sir  Alexander's,  and  the  two  Stuarts — 
David  and  Robert — kin  of  the  Stuart  who  was  with 
Simon  Fraser  on  his  trip  to  the  sea.  These  Nor'- 
Westers,  who  have  joined  Astor,  know  the  mountain 
country  well,  and  they  have  engaged  old  Nor'West 
voyageurs  as  servants.  Half  the  partners  are  to  go 
round  the  Horn  to  the  Pacific,  half  overland  from 
the  Missouri  to  the  Columbia.  If  the  Nor'Westers 
are  to  capture  the  transmontane  field  first,  there  is 
not  a  moment  to  lose. 

Thompson  is  forthwith  dispatched  back  to  the 
mountains  in  1810,  given  a  crew  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
and  urged  forward  to  the  Pacific;  but  the  Piegans  are 
playing  the  mischief  with  the  fur  trade  this  year. 
Though  Henry  drowns  them  in  whiskey  drugged 
with  laudanum  at  Rocky  Mountain  House,  they 
infest  Howse's  Pass  and  lie  in  wait  at  the  Big  Bend 
to  catch  the  canoes  bringing  up  the  furs  from  Idaho 
and  to  plunder  Thompson's  goods  bound  south  to 
Kootenay  House.  Thompson's  voyageurs  scatter 
like  lambs  before  wolves.  He  retreats  under  pro- 
tection of  Henry's  men  back  through  Howse's  Pass 
to  Rocky  Mountain  House,  but  he  is  a  hard  man  to 
beat.    Reach   the   Pacific   before  Astor's   men  he 

89 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

must,  Piegans  or  no  Piegans;  so  he  forms  his  plans. 
Look  at  the  map!  This  Kootenay  River  flowing 
through  Idaho  does  not  lead  to  the  Pacific.  It  turns 
north  into  Kootenay  Lake  of  West  Kootenay.  The 
Columbia  takes  a  great  circle  north.  Thompson 
aims  for  the  Big  Bend.  He  hurries  overland  by 
pack  horse  to  the  Athabasca  River,  enters  the  moun- 
tains at  the  head  of  the  river  on  December  20,  18 10, 
at  once  cuts  his  way  through  the  forest  tangle  up 
between  Mt.  Brown  and  Mt.  Hooker,  literally 
"swims  the  dogs  through  snowdrifts,  the  brute 
Du  Nord  beating  a  dog  to  death,"  and  finds  a  new 
trail  to  the  Columbia — Athabasca  Pass!  Down  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Divide  flows  a  river  southwest, 
to  the  Big  Bend  of  the  Columbia.  Thompson  winters 
here  to  build  canoes  for  the  spring  of  181 1,  naming 
the  river  that  gladdens  his  heart — Canoe  River. 

Down  in  Idaho,  his  men  on  Flathead  Lake  and 
the  Pend  d' Oreille  are  panicky  with  forebodings. 
Thompson  has  not  come  with  provisions.  Their  fur 
brigade  has  been  driven  back.  The  Piegans  are  on 
the  ramp,  and  there  are  all  sorts  of  wild  rumors  about 
white  men — Astor's  voyageurs,  of  course — coming 
through  the  mountains  by  way  of  the  Snake  Indian's 
territory  to  "the  rivers  of  the  setting  sun." 

Up  on  Canoe  River,  Thompson  and  his  voyageurs 
worked  feverishly— building  canoes,  and  getting  the 

90 


David  Thompson 


fur  packs  ready  against  spring.  Toward  spring, 
ten  men  are  sent  back  with  the  furs;  seven  are  to  go 
on  with  Thompson  down  Columbia  River  for  the 
Pacific.  Their  names  are  Bordeaux,  Pariel,  Cot^, 
Bourland,  Gregoire,  Charles  and  Ignace.  His  men 
are  on  the  verge  of  mutiny  from  starvation,  but  pro- 
visions come  through  from  Henry  at  Howse's  Pass, 
and  when  these  provisions  run  out,  Thompson's 
party  kill  all  their  horses  and  dogs  for  food.  Very 
early  in  the  year,  the  river  is  free  of  ice,  for  Thomp- 
son is  in  a  warmer  region  than  on  the  plains,  and 
the  canoe  is  launched  down  the  Columbia  through 
the  Big  Bend — a  swollen,  rolling,  milky  tide,  past 
what  is  now  Revelstoke,  past  Nakusp,  through  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Arrow  Lakes  and  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Rossland  mining  region.  It  is  a  region 
of  shadowy  moss-grown  forests,  of  hazy  summer  air 
resinous  with  the  odor  of  pines,  of  mountains  rising 
sheer  on  each  side  in  walls  with  belts  of  mist  mark- 
ing the  cloud  line,  the  white  peaks  opal  and  shim- 
mering and  fading  in  a  cloudland. 

Each  night  careful  camping  ground  was  chosen 
ashore  with  unblocked  way  to  the  water  in  case  of 
Piegan  attack.  July  3rd,  Thompson  reached  Ket- 
tle Falls.  For  a  week  he  followed  the  great  circular 
sweep  of  the  Columbia  south  through  what  is  now 
Washington.    At    Spokane    River,    at    Okanogan 

91 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

River,  near  Walla  Walla  where  the  Snake  comes  in, 
he  heard  rumors  among  the  Indians  that  white 
men  from  the  East  had  come  to  the  sea,  whether 
overland  or  round  the  world  he  could  not  tell,  so  on 
Tuesday,  July  9th,  Thompson  judges  it  wise  to  pre- 
empt other  claimants.  Near  Snake  River,  "I 
erected  a  small  pole,"  he  writes,  "with  a  half  sheet 
of  paper  tied  about  it,  with  these  words: 

"Know  hereby,  this  country  is  claimed  by  Great  Britain 
and  the  N  W  Company  from  Canada  do  hereby  intend 
to  erect  a  factory  on  this  place  for  the  commerce  of  the 
country — D.  Thompson." 

Broader  spread  the  waters,  larger  the  empire  rolling 
away  north  and  south  as  the  river  swerved  straight 
west.  The  river,  that  he  had  found  up  at  Blaeberry 
Creek  near  Howse's  Pass,  was  sweeping  him  to  the 
sea.  This  was  the  river.  Gray,  the  Boston  man, 
had  found,  and  Alexander  MacKenzie  had  missed 
when  he  touched  the  Fraser.  Thompson  had  now 
explored  it  from  source  to  sea,  from  the  Columbia 
and  Windermere  Lakes  north  through  East  Koote- 
nay,  south  through  West  Kootenay,  south  through 
Washington,  west  between  Washington  and  Oregon 
to  the  Pacific — a  region  in  all  as  large  as  Germany 
and  France  and  Spain. 

But  from  Walla  Walla  to  the  sea  was  a  dangerous 

92 


David  Thovij)son 


stretch.  At  the  Dalles  camped  robber  Indians  to 
pillage  travelers  as  they  portaged  overland.  Thomp- 
son kept  sleepless  vigil  all  night  and  by  launching 
out  at  dawn  before  the  mountain  mists  had  lifted 
from  the  water  gave  ambushed  foes  the  slip.  Came 
a  wash  and  a  ripple  in  the  current.  It  was  the  tide. 
The  salt  water  smell  set  the  explorer's  pulses  beating. 
Then  the  blue  line  of  the  ocean  washes  the  horizon 
of  an  opening  vista  like  a  swimming  sky.  The  voy- 
ageurs  gave  a  shout  and  beat  the  gun'els  of  the  canoe. 
A  swerve  to  left — chips  floating  on  the  water  tell 
Thompson  that  Astor's  men  are  already  here,  and 
there  stands  the  little  palisaded  post  all  raw  in  its 
newness  with  cannons  pointing  across  the  river  from 
the  fort  gates.  Precisely  at  i  P.  M.,  Monday,  July 
15,  181 1,  Thompson  arrives  at  Astoria.  The  Astor 
men  have  beaten  in  the  race  to  the  Pacific.  Thomp- 
son is  just  two  months  too  late  for  the  Nor'Westers 
to  claim  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia. 

Then  all  his  old  friends  of  the  Athabasca,  McDou- 
gall  and  the  Stuarts  and  fighting  John  Clarke — all 
his  old  friends  but  Alex.  McKay,  who  has  been  cut 
to  pieces  by  the  Indians  in  the  massacre  of  "the 
Tonquin^s  crew,"  all  but  McKay  and  Donald  Mac- 
Kenzie,  who  has  not  yet  arrived  from  overland — 
rush  down  to  welcome  him.  The  Astorians  receive 
the  Nor'Westers  with  open  arms.    It  is  good  fellow- 

93 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ship.  It  is  not  good  policy.  "He  had  access  every- 
where," writes  Ross,  a  clerk  in  the  employment  of 
Astor.  "He  saw  and  examined  everything."  He 
heard  how  the  overland  party  of  Astor' s  men  from 
the  Missouri  had  not  yet  come.  He  probably  heard, 
too,  that  the  crew  of  the  ship  Tonquin  had  been 
massacred,  and  he  was  not  slow  to  guess  that  Mc- 
Dougall,  head  of  Astor's  fort,  was  homesick  for  his 
old  Northwest  comrades. 

Thompson  remained  only  a  week.  McDougall 
gave  him  what  provisions  were  necessary  for  the 
return  voyage,  and  July  22nd  he  set  out  to  ascend 
the  Columbia  with  a  party  of  Astorians  bound  inland 
to  trade.  Bourland,  his  voyageur,  wanted  to  stay  at 
Astoria,  so  Thompson  traded  his  services  to  Mc- 
Dougall for  one  of  Astor's  Sandwich  Island  men. 
The  Astor  hunters  struck  up  Okanogan  River  to 
trade.  Thompson  pushed  on  up  the  Columbia 
through  the  Arrow  Lakes  at  feverish  pace,  noticing 
with  disgust  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  Howse, 
was  camping  hard  on  his  trail,  forming  trading  con- 
nections with  Sarcees  and  Piegans  and  Kootenays. 
Snow  comes  early  in  the  mountains.  Thompson 
must  succeed  in  crossing  the  pass  before  winter  sets 
in  so  that  the  report  of  what  he  learned  at  Astoria 
can  be  sent  down  to  Fort  William  in  time  for  the 
annual  meeting  of  July,  181 2.     He  pauses  only  for  a 

94 


David   Thorn p,sofi 


night  with  Harmon  and  Henry  at  Rocky  Mountain 
Pass  and  curses  his  stars  at  more  delay  caused  by 
the  Piegan  raiders,  who  are  keeping  his  men  of  the 
Big  Bend  at  East  Kootenay  cooped  up  in  fear  of  their 
lives,  but  he  reaches  Edmonton  in  three  months,  and 
is  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  partners  at 
Fort  William  in  July,  1812. 

This  is  a  fateful  year.  War  is  waged  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  True  soldiers  of  fortune 
as  the  Nor'Westers  ever  were,  they  decided  to  take 
advantage  of  that  war  and  capture  Astoria.  John 
George  McTavish  and  Alexander  Henry  of  Howse's 
Pass,  with  Earocque  of  the  Missouri,  are  to  lead  fifty 
voyageurs  overland  and  down  the  Columbia  to 
Astoria,  there  to  camp  outside  the  palisades  and 
parley  with  Duncan  McDougall.  Old  Donald  Mc- 
Tavish, as  gay  an  old  reprobate  as  ever  graced  the 
fur  trade,  is  to  sail  with  McDonald  of  Garth,  the 
Highlander  of  the  Crooked  Arm,  from  Eondon  on 
the  Northwest  ship,  the  Isaac  Todd,  under  convoy 
of  the  man-of-war,  Raccoon,  to  capture  Astoria. 

Thompson  has  fulfilled  his  mission.  Though  he 
was  late  in  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  he 
has  played  his  fur  trade  tactics  so  skillfully  that 
Astoria  will  fall  to  his  Company's  hands.  The  story 
of  John  George  McTavish's  voyage  from  Fort 
William,  Lake  Superior  to  Astoria,  or  of  old  Donald 

95 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

McTavish's  drunken  revels  round  the  world  in  the 
Isaac  Todd,  would  fill  a  volume.  John  George  Mc- 
Tavish  and  Larocque  reached  Astoria  first,  sweeping 
gaily  down  the  rain-swollen  flood  of  the  Columbia 
on  April  nth  in  two  birch  canoes,  British  flags  flying 
at  the  prow,  voyageurs  singing,  Indians  agape  on 
the  shore  in  sheer  amaze  at  these  dare-devil  fellows, 
who  flitted  back  and  forward  thinking  no  more  of 
crossing  the  continent  than  crossing  a  river. 

Again  McDougall  welcomed  his  rivals  in  trade, 
his  friends  of  yore,  with  open  arms.  Had  he  trained 
his  cannon  on  them,  they  had  hardly  camped  so 
smugly  under  his  fort  walls,  nor  stalked  so  surely 
in  and  out  of  his  fort,  spreading  alarm  of  the  war, 
threatening  what  the  coming  ships  would  do,  off"ering 
service  and  partnership  to  any  who  would  desert 
Astor's  company  for  the  Northwest.  McDougall 
was  tired  of  his  service  with  the  Astor  company. 
The  Tonquin  had  been  lost.  No  word  yet  of  the 
second  ship  that  was  to  come.  The  fort  was  de- 
moralized, partly  with  fear,  partly  with  vice.  There 
had  been  no  strong  hand  to  hold  the  riotous  voy- 
ageurs in  leash,  and  loose  masters  mean  loose  men. 
Now  with  news  of  a  coming  war  vessel,  all  the  pot 
valor  of  the  drunken  garrison  evaporated  in  cowardly 
desire  to  capitulate  and  avoid  bloodshed.  The  voy- 
ageurs were  deserting  to  McTavish.     On  October 

96 


Dcirid  Thompaon 


1 6,  1813,  Duncan  McDougall  sold  out  Astor's  fort 
— furs  and  provisions  worth  $100,000 — for  $40,000. 
Four  weeks  later,  on  November  15th,  came  Alex- 
ander Henry  and  David  Thompson  to  convey  the 
furs  overland  to  Fort  William.  While  the  men  are 
packing  the  furs,  at  noon,  November  30th,  "being 
about  half-tide,  a  large  ship  appeared,  standing  in 
over  the  bar  with  all  sails  spread."  Is  it  friend  or 
enemy;  the  British  man-of-war.  Raccoon,  or  Astor's 
delayed  ship?  Duncan  McDougall  goes  quakingly 
out  in  a  small  boat  to  reconnoiter,  to  pacify  the  Brit- 
ish if  it  is  a  man-of-war,  to  welcome  the  captain  if 
it  is  Astor's  ship.  John  George  McTavish  and 
Alexander  Henry  and  David  Thompson  scuttle  up- 
stream to  hide  ninety-two  packs  of  furs  and  all  am- 
munition and  provisions  and  canoes,  but  game  in  his 
blood  like  a  fighting  cock,  Henry  can't  resist  stealing 
back  at  night  to  see  what  is  going  on.  There  is  sing- 
ing on  the  water.  A  canoe  is  rocking  outrageously. 
In  it  is  a  tipsy  man,  who  shouts  the  welcome  news 
that  the  ship  was  the  man-of-war,  Raccoon,  under 
Captain  Black,  and  that  all  the  gentlemen  are  glor- 
iously drunk.  Thompson  and  Henry  and  John 
George  McTavish  come  downstream  to  witness,  on 
December  13th,  the  ceremony  of  a  bottle  of  wine 
cracked  on  the  flagstaff,  guns  roaring  from  fort  and 
ship,  the  American  flag  run  down,  the  British  flag 

97 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

run  up,  and  "Astoria"  re-named  Fort  George.  From 
all  one  can  infer  from  the  old  journals,  the  most  of 
the  gentlemen  remained  ''intoxicated"  during  the 
stay  of  The  Raccoon.  "Famous  fellows  for  grog," 
records  Henry.  The  Raccoon  puts  to  sea  New 
Year's  Day  of  1814.  David  Thompson  has  long 
since  left  for  his  posts  on  the  Kootenay,  and  in  April, 
John  George  McTavish  conducts  a  brigade  made  up 
of  Astor's  men  enlisted  as  Nor' Westers  in  ten  canoes, 
seventy-six  men  in  all,  with  the  furs  for  Fort  William. 
Henry  stays  on  with  IMcDougall  awaiting  the 
coming  of  Donald  McTavish  on  the  Isaac  Todd. 
The  long  delayed,  storm-battered  Northwest  ship 
comes  tottering  in  on  April  23rd  with  Governor 
Donald  McTavish  drunk  as  a  lord,  accompanied  by 
a  barmaid,  Jane  Barnes,  to  whose  charms  the  dissi- 
pated old  man  had  fallen  victim  at  Portsmouth. 
Old  punk  takes  fire  easiest.  What  with  rum  and 
Jane  Barnes  to  ply  it,  Astoria  was  not  a  pretty  place 
for  the  next  few  weeks.  Masters  and  men  "gave 
themselves  up  to  feasting  and  drinking  all  the  day." 
Sometimes  in  his  cups,  McDougall  would  forget 
that  he  had  become  a  Nor'Wester  and  rising  in  his 
place  at  the  governor's  table  would  hurrah  for  the 
Americans  till  the  rafters  were  ringing.  Then  Henry 
would  overset  table  and  chairs  hiccoughing  a  chal- 
lenge to  a  duel,  and  the  maudlin  old  governor  would 

98 


David  Thompson 


troll  off  a  stave  that  would  turn  lighting  to  singing 
till  daylight  came  in  at  the  windows  revealing  the 
gentlemen  asleep  on  the  floor,  the  servants  sodden 
drunk  on  the  sands  outside.  In  May,  the  weather 
clears  and  my  pleasure-loving  gentlemen  setting  such 
an  edifying  example  to  the  benighted  heathen  around 
Astoria,  must  enjoy  a  sail  across  the  flooded  Colum- 
bia. Five  voyageurs  rig  a  small  boat.  In  it  step 
the  partners,  Donald  McTavish  and  Alexander 
Henry.  A  stiff  breeze  is  blowing,  and  a  heavy  sea 
running;  but  they  must  have  a  sail  up.  The  boat 
tilts  to  the  gim'els.  A  heavy  wave  struck  her  and 
washed  over.  She  sank  at  once,  carrying  all  hands 
down  but  one  voyageur,  who  was  rescued  by  the 
Chinooks.  Thus  perished  Donald  McTavish  •^nd 
Alexander  Henry. 

Meanwhile,  what  had  Simon  Fraser  accomplished 
in  the  North,  while  Thompson  was  exploring  the 
South?  Like  Thompson,  he,  too,  was  ordered  to 
the  mountains  in  1805.  James  McDougall,  a  North- 
west clerk,  had  already  followed  MacKenzie's  foot- 
steps up  Peace  River  across  the  mountains  to  the 
Forks,  when  Simon  Fraser  came  on  the  scene  in  the 
fall  of  1805.  If  Nor' Westers  are  to  pass  this  way  to 
the  Western  hunting  ground,  first  of  all  there  must 
be  a  fort  at  the  entrance  to  the  Pass.    Fraser  knocks 

99 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

up  a  cluster  of  cabins,  leaves  two  clerks  and  twelve 
voyageurs  in  charge  and  ascends  the  south  fork — 
the  Parsnip.  This  was  the  stream  where  Mac- 
Kenzie  had  such  tremendous  difficulties.  Fraser 
avoids  these  rapids  by  going  up  a  western  branch  of 
the  Parsnip  to  a  little  lake  narrow  and  seventeen 
miles  long,  set  like  an  emerald  among  the  mountains. 
There  on  a  point  of  land  beside  a  purling  brook,  he 
built  the  first  fur  post  west  of  the  Rockies,  which  he 
named  after  the  partner,  Archibald  Norman  Mc- 
Leod.  To  this  day  it  stands  exactly  where  and  as 
Fraser  built  it.  James  McDougall  and  La  Malice,  a 
blackguard  half-breed,  are  left  at  the  fort.  Fraser 
spent  three  months  at  the  post  in  the  pass,  but  Mc- 
Dougall goes  westward  from  Fort  McLeod  to  a 
magnificent  lake  surrounded  by  forests  and  moun- 
tains. This  lake  is  the  center  of  the  Carrier  Indians' 
country.  To  an  old  Shaman  or  Medicine  Man,  Mc- 
Dougall presents  a  piece  of  red  cloth,  telling  him 
white  men  will  come  to  trade  in  the  spring.  Blazing 
initials  on  the  trees,  he  takes  possession  of  the  coun- 
try for  the  Northwest  Company.  Fraser,  at  Peace 
River  Pass,  has  sent  the  furs  East  and  been  joined 
by  the  wintering  partner,  Archibald  McGillivray, 
who  has  come  to  take  charge,  while  Fraser  explores. 
Now  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  Fraser,  like 
MacKenzie,  thought  the  great  river  flowing  south 

lOO 


David  Thompson 


was  the  Columbia,  and  setting  out  from  the  Pass  in 
May  with  John  Stuart  as  second  in  command,  Fraser 
follows  the  exact  trail  of  MacKenzie — up  the  Parsnip, 
down  Bad  River  to  the  great  unknown  river.  Sweep- 
ing south,  they  come  to  a  large  stream  coming  in 
from  the  west — the  Ncchaco.  Will  that  lead  to  the 
Pacific?  Fraser  ascends  it  June  nth,  only  to  find 
that  like  an  endless  maze  the  Nechaco  has  another 
branch,  the  Stuart.  They  proceed  leisurely,  hunting 
along  shore,  blazing  a  trail  through  the  forests  as 
the  canoes  advance,  encountering  two  grizzly  bears 
that  pursue  the  Indian  hunter  so  furiously  they 
flounder  over  the  hunter's  wife,  who  has  fallen  to 
the  ground  flat  on  her  face  with  fright,  tear  the  man 
badly  and  are  only  driven  off  by  dogs.  It  is  the 
end  of  July  before  the  canoes  emerge  from  the  second 
branch  on  a  windy  lake,  surrounded  by  mountains 
with  forests  to  the  water's  edge — the  lake  McDougall 
had  found  the  preceding  autumn.  Carrier  Indians 
tell  the  legends  yet  of  their  tribe's  amazement  that 
July  day  to  see  two  huge  things  float  out  on  the  water 
and  come  galloping — galloping  (such  is  the  appear- 
ance of  rows  of  paddlers  at  a  distance)  across  the 
waves  of  their  lake;  but  the  old  Medicine  Man  dashes 
out  in  a  small  canoe  flourishing  his  red  cloth  and 
welcomes  the  white  men  ashore.  To  impress  the 
Carrier  Indians,  the  white  men  fire  a  volley  that  sets 

lOI 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

echoes  rocketing  among  the  peaks;  and  the  Indians 
fall  prostrate  with  terror.  Fraser  allays  fear  with 
presents,  and  bartering  begins  on  the  spot,  for  the 
Carriers  are  clothed  in  fine  beaver.  The  white  men 
then  clear  the  ground  for  a  fort.  The  lake,  which 
McDougall  had  found  the  preceding  fall  and  to  which 
Fraser  had  now  ascended,  was  named  Stuart  after 
Fraser's  second  officer.  It  was  fifty  miles  long, 
dotted  with  islands,  broken  by  beautiful  recesses 
into  the  forests  and  mountains.  East  were  the  snowy 
summits  of  the  Rockies,  west  and  north  and  south, 
the  mighty  hills  rolling  back  in  endless  tiers  to  the 
clouds.  Fraser  names  the  region  New  Caledonia 
and  the  fort,  St.  James. 

For  some  reason,  salmon  were  tardy  coming  to 
Lake  Stuart  this  year.  Fraser's  provisions  were 
exhausted  and  his  men  were  now  dependent  on  wild 
fruit  and  chance  game.  Forty-five  miles  to  the  south 
was  another  lake  also  drained  by  the  Nechaco  to 
the  great  unknown  river.  To  avoid  having  so  many 
hungry  men  in  one  camp,  Fraser  at  the  end  of  Au- 
gust sent  Stuart  and  two  men  southward  to  this  new 
lake,  which  Stuart  named  in  honor  of  Fraser.  Blais 
remains  for  the  winter  with  voyageurs  at  Stuart 
Lake.  Fraser  goes  on  downstream,  and  where  the 
Stuart  joins  the  Nechaco  meets  John  Stuart  and 
hears  so  favorably  of  the  new  lake  that  the  two  pole 

102 


David  Thompson 


back  and  build  on  Fraser  Lake  the  third  fort  west 
of  the  Rockies. 

The  winter  of  1806-7  was  passed  collecting  furs  at 
these  posts;  and  the  eastern  brigade  sent  to  Peace 
River  with  the  furs  carried  out  a  request  from  Fraser 
to  the  partners  of  Fort  William  for  more  men  and 
merchandise  for  farther  exploration.  Back  with  the 
autumn  brigade  in  answer  to  his  request  came  Jules 
Maurice  Quesnel  and  Hugh  Faries  with  orders  for 
Fraser  to  push  down  the  unknown  river  to  the 
Pacific  at  all  hazards.  Where  the  Nechaco  joined 
the  great  river,  Fraser  in  the  fall  of  1807  built  a  fourth 
post — St.  George. 

Somewhere  from  the  vicinity  of  this  post,  at  five 
in  the  morning  toward  the  end  of  May,  1808,  Fraser 
launched  four  canoes  downstream  for  tide  water, 
firmly  believing  he  was  on  the  Columbia.  With  him 
went  Stuart  and  Quesnel  and  nineteen  voyageurs. 
Eighteen  miles  down  came  Fort  George  cafion  with 
a  roar  of  rapids  that  swirled  one  canoe  against  a 
precipice  almost  wrecking  it;  then  smooth  going  till 
night  camp,  when  all  slept  with  firearms  at  hand. 
Next  day,  the  real  perils  of  the  voyage  began.  Canoes 
were  on  the  water  before  the  mists  had  rolled  up  the 
hills  and  the  river  had  presently  contracted  to  a 
violent  whirlpool  between  rock  walls—Cottonwood 
Canon.     Portaging   baggage   overland,   Fraser   ran 

103 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  lightened  canoes  safely  down.  The  river  passed 
on  the  east  was  later  to  be  known  as  Quesnel,  famous 
for  its  gold  fields.  At  Soda  Creek,  those  natives, 
who  had  opposed  MacKenzie,  suddenly  appeared 
along  the  banks  on  horseback,  and  called  to  Fraser 
"that  the  river  below  was  but  a  succession  of  falls  and 
cascades,"  which  no  boats  could  pass.  An  old  chief 
and  a  slave  joined  Fraser  as  guides  and  soon  enough, 
the  worst  predictions  were  verified.  "June  ist,  we 
found  the  channel  contracted  to  fifty  yards,  an  im- 
mense body  of  water  passing  through  the  narrow 
space  forming  gulfs  and  cascades  and  making  a  tre- 
mendous noise.  It  was  impossible  to  carry  the 
canoes  across  land,  owing  to  the  steepness  of  the 
hills,  and  it  was  resolved  to  venture  them,"  writes 
Fraser. 

"Leaving  Mr.  Stuart  and  two  men  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  rapid  to  watch  the  natives,  I  returned  to 
camp  and  ordered  the  five  best  men  into  a  canoe 
lightly  loaded,  and  in  a  moment  it  was  under  way. 
Passing  the  first  cascade,  she  lost  her  course  and  was 
drawn  into  the  eddy  where  she  was  whirled  about, 
the  men  having  no  power  over  her.  In  this  manner, 
she  flew  from  one  danger  to  another  till  the  last  cas- 
cade but  one,  where  in  spite  of  every  effort  the  whirl- 
pools forced  her  against  a  low  rock.  The  men  de- 
barked, saving  their  lives;  but  to  continue  would  be 

104 


David  Thompson 


certain  destruction.  Their  situation  rendered  our 
approach  perilous.  The  bank  was  high  and  steep. 
We  had  to  plunge  our  daggers  into  the  bank  to  keep 
from  sliding  into  the  river.  We  cut  steps  in  the 
declivity,  fastened  a  line  to  the  front  of  the  canoe, 
which  the  men  hauled  up,  others  supporting  it,  our 
lives  hanging  on  a  thread,  as  one  false  step  would 
have  hurled  us  all  to  eternity.  W^e  cleared  the  bank 
before  dark." 

The  amazed  Indians  made  no  motion  to  molest 
these  mad  white  men,  but  tried  to  explain  by  signs 
to  Fraser  that  another  great  river  (the  Columbia) 
led  by  smooth  water  to  the  sea.  But  Fraser  thought 
he  was  on  the  Columbia;  and  "going  to  the  sea  by 
an  indirect  way  was  not  the  object  of  the  under- 
taking; I  therefore  continued  our  route." 

Nevertheless,  the  Indians  were  right.  The  river 
grew  worse  and  worse.  Fraser  bought  four  horses 
from  them  and  went  on,  half  the  men  along  the 
shore,  half  in  the  canoes.  The  task  of  bringing  the 
baggage  overland  "was  as  difficult  as  going  by  water. 
We  were  obliged  to  pass  a  declivity,  the  border  of  a 
huge  precipice,  where  the  loose  gravel  slid  under  our 
feet.  One  man  with  a  large  pack  on  his  back  got  so 
entangled  on  the  rocks  he  could  move  neither  for- 
ward nor  backward.  I  crawled  out  to  the  edge  and 
saved  his  life  by  dropping  his  load  over  the  precipice 

los 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

into  the  river.  This  carrying  place,  two  miles  long, 
shattered  our  shoes  so  that  our  feet  were  covered 
with  blisters.  A  pair  of  shoes"  (moccasins)  "does 
not  last  a  day." 

The  river  grew  worse  and  worse.  On  the  9th  of 
June  "the  river  contracts  to  forty  yards,  enclosed  by 
two  precipices  of  immense  height  narrower  above 
than  below.  The  water  rolls  down  in  tumultuous 
waves  with  great  velocity.  It  was  impossible  to 
carry  canoes  by  land,  so  all  hands  without  hesitation 
embarked  as  it  were  a  corps  perdu  upon  the  mercy 
of  this  awful  tide.  Once  in,  the  die  was  cast.  Our 
great  difficulty  was  in  keeping  the  canoes  clear  of  the 
precipice  on  one  side  and  the  gulfs  formed  by  the 
waves  on  the  other.  Skimming  along  as  fast  as  light- 
ning the  crews,  cool  and  determined,  followed  each 
other  in  awful  silence;  and  when  we  arrived  at  the 
end,  we  stood  gazing  at  each  other  in  silent  congratu- 
lation at  our  escape." 

Again  the  Indians  waited  at  the  end  of  the  rapids 
and  again  they  drew  maps  on  Eraser's  oilcloth  cover- 
ings for  baggage,  showing  which  way  the  river 
flowed  and  that  canoes  could  not  pass  down.  The 
loth  of  June,  Fraser  places  his  canoes  on  a  shaded 
scaffolding  where  the  gummed  seams  will  not  be 
melted  and  hides  his  baggage  in  a  cache.  At  five 
A.  M.  on  the  nth,  all  the  crews  set  out  on  foot,  each 

106 


David  Thompson 


man  carrying  a  pack  of  eighty  pounds.  Fraser  is 
now  between  Lillooet  and  Thompson  River,  or  where 
the  passing  traveler  can  to-day  see  the  old  Caribou 
trail  from  Lytton  to  Ashcroft  clinging  to  the  mountain 
like  basketwork  stuck  on  a  huge  wall.  The  river 
becomes  calmer,  and  on  the  fifteenth  Fraser  buys  a 
canoe  from  the  Chilcotins,  which  Stuart  and  two 
voyageurs  pilot,  while  the  rest  of  the  men  walk  along 
the  banks. 

June  2oth,  a  great  river  comes  in  on  the  east. 
Knowing  that  Thompson  is  somewhere  exploring 
these  same  mountains  to  the  south,  Fraser  names 
the  river  after  his  friend  of  the  Kootenay.  At  the 
Thompson,  all  hands  once  more  embark  in  the 
canoes.  A  canoe  goes  to  smash  in  what  is  now 
known  as  Fraser  Canon,  but  no  lives  are  lost;  so 
above  modern  Yale  it  is  deemed  safer  to  portage 
past  the  worst  places.  The  portage  is  almost  as 
dangerous  as  the  rapids,  for  where  the  rock  is  sheer 
wall,  the  Indians  have  made  rope  ladders  across 
chasms  "or  hung  twigs  across  poles,"  the  ends  fast- 
ened from  precipice  to  precipice,  and  across  these 
swaying  gangways  the  voyageurs  had  to  carry  canoe 
and  packs.  That  night,  June  26th,  camp  was  made 
at  Spuzzum. 

The  river  now  swerved  directly  west.  Fraser 
knew  where  the  Columbia  turned  west  was  south  of 

107 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  Boundary.  There  was  only  one  conclusion — 
this  was  not  the  Columbia.  He  had  been  exploring 
a  new  river.  It  was  the  wildly  magnificent  stream 
now  called  after  Fraser. 

The  coast  Indians  were  always  notoriously  hos- 
tile. The  mountain  tribes  warned  Fraser  not  to  go 
on.  Mount  Baker  loomed  south  an  opal  fire,  and 
on  the  river  near  what  is  now  New  Westminster 
Fraser  saw  the  ripple  of  the  tide.  Where  the  river 
divided  into  two  channels,  armed  Indians  pursued 
in  their  canoes  "singing  war  songs,  beating  time 
with  paddles,  howling  like  so  many  wolves,"  flour- 
ishing spears.  A  few  hours  would  have  carried 
Fraser  to  the  sea;  but  these  warriors  barred  the  way. 
He  had  fulfilled  his  order.  He  had  followed  the 
unknown  river  to  tide  water.  On  the  3rd  of  July, 
Fraser  turned  back  up  the  river.  The  coast  Indians 
pursued,  pillaging  packs  when  the  white  men  camped, 
threatening  violence  when  the  voyageurs  embarked. 
Two  warriors  feigned  friendship  and  asked  passage 
in  Fraser' s  canoe.  Thinking  their  presence  might 
afford  protection,  Fraser  took  them  on  board.  No 
sooner  was  the  canoe  afloat  pursued  by  a  flotilla  of 
Indian  warriors  than  the  two  struck  up  a  war  song. 
One  was  caught  in  the  act  of  stealing  a  voyageur's 
dagger.  Fraser  hurriedly  put  the  traitor  ashore;  but 
that  night,  July  6th,  hostile  Indians  were  swarming 

108 


David  Thompson 


like  hornets  round  the  camp  and  every  man  kept 
guard  with  back  to  tree  and  musket  in  hand.  The 
voyageurs  became  panicky.  They  were  for  throw- 
ing their  provisions  to  the  winds  and  scattering  in 
the  forest.  Fraser  hstened  to  the  mutiny  without 
word  of  reproach,  showed  the  men  how  desertion 
would  be  certain  death  and  how  they  might  escape 
by  keeping  together.  Then  he  shook  hands  all 
round,  and  each  voyageur  took  oath  "  to  perish  sooner 
than  forsake  the  crew."  Fear  put  speed  into  the 
paddles.  They  decamped  from  that  place  "singing" 
to  keep  the  men's  spirits  up,  and  the  hostiles  were 
left  far  behind.  Fraser  had  been  forty  days  going 
downstream.  He  was  only  thirty-three  going  up  to 
Fort  George. 

In  thirty  years  "  the  Pedlars" — as  the  English 
called  the  Nor' Westers — had  explored  from  Lake 
Superior  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Missouri  to  the 
Arctic. 

Notes  to  Chapters  XXIII.  XXIV,  XXV.— Details  of  the  ad- 
vance up  the  Saskatchewan  are  to  be  found  in  Alexander  Henry's 
Journals,  in  Harmon's  Journals,  and  in  those  fur  trade  journals 
of  the  Masson  Collection.  Of  unpublished  data  I  find  the  most 
about  the  Saskatchewan  and  Athabasca  in  Colin  Robertson's 
letters,  of  which  only  two  copies  exist — the  original  in  H.  B.  C. 
Archives,  a  transcript  which  I  made  from  them. 

About  Chippewyan — for  which  there  are  as  many  spellings 
as  there  are  writers — Pond  built  the  first  fort  thirty  miles  south 
of  the  lake  on  what  he  called  Elk  River;  Roderick  MacKenzie 
built  the  next  fort  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake.  In  the  iSoo's 
this  was  abandoned  for  a  post  on  the  north  side. 

109 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


About  Slave  Lake — it  is  named  after  the  Slave  Indians,  who 
were  called  "Slaves,  "  not  because  they  were  slaves,  but  because 
they  had  been  driven  from  their  territory  of  the  South. 

MacKenzie's  Voyage,  I  have  told  fully  in  "Pathfinders  of  the 
West."  The  authority  for  that  volume  is  to  be  found  in  Mac- 
Kenzie's Journals,  and  in  MacKenzie's  letter  to  his  cousin, 
Roderick.  Norman  McLeod,  the  clerk  under  MacKenzie,  be- 
came the  aggressive  partner  of  a  later  day. 

The  dates  of  Thompson's  service  with  the  H.  B.  C.  are  vari- 
ously given.  I  do  not  find  him  in  H.  B.  C.  books  after  1 789,  and 
rather  suspect  that  he  wintered  with  Alexander  MacKenzie  as 
well  as  Rory  before  the  former  went  to  the  Pacific ;  but  I  left  this 
unsaid.  It  is  well  to  note  that  Howse  did  as  great  service  as  an 
explorer  as  Thompson,  but  Thompson's  services  became  known 
to  the  world.  Howse's  work  passed  unnoticed,  owing  to  the 
policy  of  secrecy  followed  by  the  H.  B.  C.  Father  Morice's 
"History  of  Northern  B.  C.  '  traces  MacKenzie's  course  very 
clearly. 

In  H.  B.  C.  Archives  of  1804  is  Duncan  McGillivray's  letter 
to  the  English  company  proposing  division  of  the  hunting  field, 
the  H.  B.  C.  to  keep  the  bay,  the  Nor' Westers  to  have  inland 
— which  was  very  much  like  the  boy's  division  of  the  apple  when 
he  oifered  the  other  boy  the  core. 

November  16,  1808,  Minutes  record  ;;£8oo  of  stock  trans- 
ferred to  Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie,  ;£742-io  —  to  Earl  of  Sel- 
kirk. This  marks  as  far  as  I  could  find  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
Selkirk's  visit  to  Canada  was  in  1803.  His  observations  will  be 
found  in  his  book  on  "Sketch  of  the  British  Fur  Trade,"  181 5, 
pp.  38-52.  The  Minutes  of  H.  B.  C,  1804,  order  suit  against 
John  Richards,  "late  commander  for  the  Co'y,"  for  entering 
H.  B.  in  the  month  of  August  in  the  Eddystone,  and  erecting  a 
fort  at  "Charlton  Island  and  leaving  men  with  goods  for  trade." 

Details  of  clashes  between  1800  and  18 10  will  be  found  in 
the  court  records  and  Canadian  Archives. 

I  have  given  the  explorations  of  Thompson  in  great  detail 
because  it  has  never  before  been  done,  and  it  seems  to  me  is 
very  essential  to  the  exploration  period  of  the  West.  Thomp- 
son's MS.  is  in  the  Pari.  Building,  Toronto,  Ontario.  The 
Ontario  Boundaries  Report  gives  brief  account  of  his  Eastern 
explorations.  Henry's  Journal,  Harmon's  Journal,  Ross,  Cox, 
Franchere  of  the  Astor  expedition  give  in  their  journals  his 
movements  in  the  West.  Eraser's  voyage  is  to  be  found  in 
his  own  MS.  Masson  Collection.  It  ought  not  to  be  necessary 
to  say  here  that  I  know  both  regions  traversed  by  Thompson 
well,  very  well,  from  personal  travel.     Nor  ought  it  to  be  neces- 

IIO 


David  Thomp.son 


sary  to  forewarn  that  Thompson's  Journals  do  not  use  the  same 
names  as  apply  to  modem  regions.  To  avoid  confusion,  I  have 
used  in  every  case  possible,  only  the  modem  names.  The 
men  who  went  with  Thompson  to  the  Mandane  country  were — 
Rene  Jussuame,  Boisseau,  McCracken,  Hoole,  Gilbert,  Mimie, 
Perrault,  Vaudriel.  Who  the  H.  B.  C.  men  were  who  had  been 
on  the  Missouri  before  Thompson,  I  could  not  find  out.  Who- 
ever they  were,  they  preceded  Lewis  and  Clarke  on  the  Missouri 
by  ten  years.  That  is  worth  remembering,  when  the  H.  B.  C. 
is  accused  of  being  torpid.  Thompson  never  received  any  recog- 
nition whatever  for  explorations  that  far  exceeded  Alexander 
Mackenzie's.  He  died  unknown  in  Longeuil,  opposite  Montreal, 
in  1857. 

The  H.  B.  C.  Minutes  of  1805  record  that  "Mad  McKay" 
(Donald)  cannot  procure  a  man  in  the  Orkneys.  They  also 
record  that  the  copper  brought  by  Heame  from  the  North,  was 
given  to  the  British  Museum. 

I  regret  space  forbids  quoting  the  Minutes  on  the  Louisiana 
Boundary. 

1808,  Peter  Fidler  is  paid  £3$  bonus,  which  he  surely  had  won. 

Morice  says  the  Indians  of  Stuart  Lake  are  called  "Carriers" 
from  their  habit  of  burning  the  dead  and  carrying  the  ashes. 

It  may  be  explained  that  Mt.  Thompson  of  the  Howse  Pass 
region  was  not  named  after  the  explorer,  but  after  a  Mr.  Thomp- 
son of  Chicago,  who  with  Mr.  Wilcox  and  Professor  Fay  and 
Professor  Parker  of  the  U.  S.  and  Mr.- Stutfield  and  Professor 
Collie  and  Rev.  James  Outram,  London,  explored  all  this  region 
from  1900  to  1904.  I  was  in  the  mountains  at  the  time  this  was 
done  and  attempted  to  go  up  Bow  River,  but  in  those  days 
there  was  no  trail.  We  were  late  going  up  the  river  and  were 
stopped  by  the  early  autumn  rains,  just  beyond  Mt.  Hector. 
On  a  previous  occasion,  when  I  was  in  the  mountains,  I  haf>- 
pened  to  be  delayed  at  Kootenay  Lake  for  two  days.  Mr.  Mara, 
who  was  then  president  of  the  Navigation  Co.,  oflfered  me  the 
opijortunity  to  go  down  on  one  of  his  steamers  to  this  very 
region  of  Idaho,  past  the  reclamation  workers  attempting  the  im- 
possible task  or  draining  the  floods  of  Kootenay  Lake.  In 
Thompson's  trip  from  Canoe  River,  in  181 1,  to  Astoria  are  some 
discrepancies  I  cannot  explain,  and  I  beg  to  state  them;  other- 
wise I  shall  be  charged  with  them.  Thompson  says  he  left 
Canoe  River  in  January.  That  is  a  very  early  date  to  navigate 
a  mountain  river,  even  though  there  is  no  ice.  Snow  swells  the 
streams  to  a  torrent.  Pass  that:  His  journal  shows  that  he 
did  not  reach  Astoria  till  July — nearly  seven  months  on  a  voy- 
age that  was  usually  accomplished  m  forty  or  at  most  sixty 

III 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


days.  He  may,  of  course,  have  been  hunting  and  caching  furs 
on  the  way,  or  he  may  have  been  exploring  east  and  west  as  he 
went  on.  The  rehabiUty  of  Thompson's  Journal  is  beyond 
cavil.  I  merely  draw  attention  to  the  time  taken  on  this  voy- 
age. In  the  text  I  "dodge"  the  difficulty  by  saying  Thompson 
set  out  "toward  spring."  For  his  exploration,  Fraser  was 
offered  knighthood,  but  declined  the  honor  on  the  plea  that  it 
would  entail  expense  that  he  could  not  afford. 


112 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
1810-1813 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  COLONISTS — LORD  SELKIRK 
BUYS  CONTROL  OF  THE  H.  B.  C.  —  SIMON  M'- 
GILLIVRAY  AND  MACKENZIE  PLOT  TO  DEFEAT 
HIM — ROBERTSON  SAYS  "  FIGHT  FIRE  WITH  FIRE" 
AND  SELKIRK  CHOSES  A  M'DONELL  AGAINST 
A  m'dONELL — THE  COLONISTS  COME  TO  RED 
RIVER — RIOT  AND  PLOT  AND  MUTINY. 

NOT  purely  as  a  fur  trader  does  my  lord 
viscount,  Thomas  Douglas  of  Selkirk, 
begin  buying  shares  in  the  Company  of 
Honorable  Adventurers  to  Hudson's  Bay.  Not  as 
a  speculator  does  he  lock  hands  with  Sir  Alexander 
MacKenzie,  the  Nor'West  explorer,  to  buy  Hudson's 
Bay  stock,  which  has  fallen  from  £250  to  £50  a  share. 
To  every  age  its  dreamer!  Radisson  had  dreamed 
of  becoming  a  voyageur  to  far  countries;  and  his 
dream  was  realized  in  finding  the  Great  North- 
west. Iberville's  ambition  was  to  be  conqueror, 
and  he  drenched  the  New  World  with  the  blood  that 
was  the  price  of  this  ambition ;  and  now  comes  on  the 
scene  the  third  great  actor  of  Northwest  drama,  a 

113 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

figure  round  whom  swings  the  new  era,  a  dreamer 
of  dreams,  too,  but  who  cares  not  a  farthing  for  dis- 
covery or  conquest,  whose  dream — marvel  of  marvels 
— is  neither  gain  nor  glory,  but  the  phantom  thing 
men  call — Good! 

Born  in  1771,  Selkirk  came  to  his  title  in  1779, 
and  in  1807  married  the  daughter  of  James  Colville, 
one  of  the  heaviest  shareholders  in  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  All  that  life  could  give  the  young 
nobleman  possessed,  wealth,  position,  love,  power. 
\  But  he  possessed  something  rarer  than  these — a 
<  realizing  sense  that  in  proportion  as  he  was  possessed 
of  much,  so  much  was  he  debtor  to  humanity. 

During  his  youth  great  poverty  existed  in  Scot- 
land. Changes  in  farming  methods  had  driven 
thousands  of  humble  tenants  from  the  means  of  a 
livelihood.  Alexander  MacKenzie's  voyages  had 
keenly  interested  Selkirk.  Here,  in  Scotland,  were 
multitudes  of  people  destitute  for  lack  of  land. 
There,  in  the  vast  regions  MacKenzie  described, 
was  an  empire  the  size  of  Europe  idle  for  lack  of 
people. 

Young  Selkirk's  imagination  took  fire.  Here  was 
avenue  for  that  passion  to  help  others,  which  was  the 
mainspring  of  his  life.  He  would  lead  these  desti- 
tute multitudes  of  Scotland — Earth's  Dispossessed — 
to   this   Promised   Eand   of  MacKenzie's  voyages. 

114 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


The  one  fact  that  Selkirk  failed  to  take  into  con- 
sideration was — how  the  fur  traders,  how  the  lust 
of  gain,  would  regard  this  aim  of  his.  He  addresses 
a  memorial  to  the  British  Government  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  the  British  Government  ignores  with  a 
stolid  ignorance  characteristic  of  all  its  dealings  in 
colonial  affairs.  "It  appears,"  says  Selkirk,  "that 
the  greatest  impediment  to  a  colony  would  be  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  monopoly." 

Meanwhile  he  sends  eight  hundred  colonists  tox 
Eastern  Canada — some  to  Prince  Edward  Island,  ^^ 
some  to  Baldoon  in  Ontario;  but  neither  of  these  v 
regions  satisfies  him  as  does  that  unseen  Eldorado 
which  MacKenzie  described.  Then  he  comes  to 
Montreal,  himself,  where  he  is  the  guest  of  all  the 
ostentatious  hospitality  that  the  pompous  Nor'- 
Westers  can  lavish  upon  him.  At  every  turn,  at  the 
Beaver  Club  banquets,  in  the  magnificent  private 
houses  of  the  Nor'Westers,  Selkirk  learns  for  the 
first  time  that  there  is  as  great  wealth  in  the  fur  trade 
as  in  Spanish  mine.  Then,  he  meets  Colin  Robert- 
son, the  young  Nor'West  clerk,  who  was  dismissed 
by  McDonald  of  Garth  out  on  the  Saskatchewan; 
and  Colin  Robertson  tells  even  more  marvelous 
tales  than  MacKenzie,  of  a  land  where  there  are  no 
forests  to  be  cleared  away;  where  the  turning  of  a 
plowshare  will  yield  a  crop;  where  cattle  and  horses 

"5 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

can  forage  as  they  run;  where,  Robertson  adds 
enthusiastically,  "there  will  some  day  be  a  great 
empire." 

''What  part  of  the  great  Northwest  does  Mr. 
Robertson  think  best  fitted  for  a  colony?"  Selkirk 
asks. 

"At  the  forks  of  the  Red  and  the  Assiniboine," 
the  modern  Manitoba,  Robertson  promptly  answers. 

Selkirk's  imagination  leaps  forward.  Difficulties? 
Ah,  yes,  lots  of  them!  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
holds  monopoly  over  all  that  region.  And  how  are 
settlers  to  be  sent  so  far  inland?  And  to  whom  will 
they  sell  their  produce  two  thousand  miles  from  port 
or  town?  But  where  would  humanity  be  if  imagi- 
nation sat  down  with  folded  hands  before  the  first 
blank  wall?  Selkirk  takes  no  heed  of  impossibles. 
He  invites  Colin  Robertson  to  come  back  with  him 
to  meet  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  directors,  and 
he  listens  to  Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie's  big  scheme 
to  monopolize  all  the  fur  trade  by  buying  up  Hud- 
son's Bay  stock,  and  he  makes  mental  note  of  the 
fact  that  if  stock  can  be  bought  up  for  a  monopoly, 
it  can  also  be  bought  up  for  a  colony. 

At  the  table  of  the  Beaver  Club  dinner  sit  Sir 
Alexander  MacKenzie  and  Simon  MacGillivray. 

"He  asks  too  many  questions,"  says  MacGillivray, 
nodding  toward  Selkirk's  place. 

ii6 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


"But  if  we  spent  £20^000,  the  North-West  Com- 
pany could  buy  up  a  controlling  share  of  H.  B.  C," 
laconically  answers  Sir  Alexander. 

*'Tush,"  says  the  Highlander  MacGillivray,  re- 
splendent in  the  plaids  of  his  clan.  "Why  should 
we  spend  money  for  that?  We  can  control  the  field 
without  buying  stock.  Only  ;i^2,ooo  of  furs  did  they 
sell  last  year;  and  only  two  dividends  in  ten  years!" 

"If  you  don't  buy  control  of  H.  B.  C,"  says  Mac- 
Kenzie,  "take  my  advice! — beware  of  that  lord!"      ' 

"And  take  my  advice — don't  buy!"  repeats  the 
Highlander.  j 

Selkirk  goes  back  to  Scotland.  By  18 10,  he  con- 
trols £40,000  out  of  the  £105,000  capital  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company.  Another  £20,000  is  owned  by 
minors,  with  no  vote.  Practically,  Selkirk  and  his 
relatives,  the  Colvilles,  own  the  Company.  Sir 
Alexander's  anger  knows  no  bounds.  It  is  common 
gossip  on  what  we  would  to-day  call  "Change"  that 
Selkirk  has  bought  control,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  fur 
trade,  but  for  a  colony.  Sir  Alexander  quarrels 
violently  with  my  Lord  Selkirk,  whom  he  regards  as 
an  enthusiast  gone  mad.  MacKenzie  turns  over  to 
MacGillivray,  what  Hudson's  Bay  stock  he  owns  and 
again  urges  the  Nor'Westers  to  buy  on  the  open 
market  against  Selkirk. 

Not  so  does  the  canny  Simon  MacGillivray  lose 
117 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

his  head!  To  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  he  writes 
proposing  a  division  of  territory.  If  the  Hudson's 
Bay  will  keep  entirely  to  the  bay  and  the  rivers  run- 
ning into  the  bay,  the  Nor'Westers  will  keep  ex- 
clusively to  the  inland  country  and  the  Athabasca, 
which  is  pretty  much  like  playing  Hamlet  with  Ham- 
let left  out,  for  the  best  furs  are  from  the  inland 
country  and  the  Athabasca.  Among  his  own  part- 
ners, IMacGillivray  throws  off  all  masks.  "This 
colony  of  his  will  cause  much  expense  to  us,"  he 
writes  from  London  on  April  g,  1812,  to  the  winter- 
ing partners,  "before  Selkirk  is  driven  to  abandon 
the  project;  yet  he  must  be  driven  to  abandon  it,  for 
his  success  would  strike  at  the  very  existence  of  our 
trade." 

While  the  lords  of  finance  are  fighting  for  its  stock, 
the  old  Company  is  floundering  through  a  slough  of 
distraction  not  far  from  bankruptcy.  The  Bank  of 
England  advances  ;^5o,ooo  credit,  but  the  Company 
can  barely  pay  interest  on  the  advance.  .  Two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  servants  came  home  in  18 10,  and  not 
a  recruit  can  be  hired  in  the  Orkneys,  so  terrible 
are  the  tales  now  current  of  brutality  in  the  fur  coun- 
try. Corrigal  and  Russell  and  McNab  came  home 
from  Albany  with  news  of  the  McDonell  clan's 
murderous  assaults  and  of  Mowat's  forcible  abduc- 
tion to  Montreal.     All  these  are  voted  a  bounty  of 

118 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


£$o  each  from  the  Compnay.  Joseph  Howse  sends 
home  word  of  his  wild  wanderings  in  the  Rockies 
on  the  trail  of  David  Thompson,  and  the  Company 
gives  him  a  present  of  £150  "as  encouragement" 
to  hold  the  regions  west  of  the  Rockies.  Governor 
Auld  reports  that  the  Canadians  have  stopped  aU 
trade  west  of  Churchill.  Governor  Cook  reports  the 
same  of  York.  Governor  Thomas  reports  worse 
than  loss  from  Albany — his  men  are  daily  murdered. 
They  go  into  the  woods  and  never  return. 

On  Selkirk's  advice,  the  Company  calls  for  Colin 
Robertson,  the  dismissed  Northwest  clerk.  For 
three  years  Robertson  remains  in  London  and  IJver- 
pool,  advisor  to  the  Company.  *'If  you  cannot  hire 
Orkneymen,  get  Frenchmen  from  Quebec  as  the 
Nor'Westers  do,"  he  advises.  "Fight  fire  with  fire! 
Your  Orkneymen  are  too  shy,  shy  of  breaking  the 
law  in  a  lawless  land,  shy  of  getting  their  own  heads 
broken!  Hire  French  bullies!  I  can  get  you  three 
hundred  of  them!" 

The  old  Company  see-saws — is  afraid  of  such 
advice,  is  still  more  afraid  not  to  take  it.  They  vote 
to  reject  "Mr.  Robertson's  proposals"  in  January 
of  1 8 10,  and  in  December  of  the  same  year  vote  a 
complete  turn-about  "to  accept  Mr.  Robertson's 
suggestions,"  authorizing  Maitland,  Garden  &" 
Auddjo,  a  legal  firm  of  Montreal,  to  spend  £i,<x»  a 

119 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

year  and  as  high  as  £20,000  if  necessary,  to  equip 
expeditions  for  the  North.  William  Bachelor  Colt- 
ipan  is  appointed  to  look  after  the  Company's  clients 
in  Quebec  city,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  changes  its 
entire  system  of  trade.  Barter  is  to  be  abolished. 
Accounts  are  to  be  kept.  Each  year's  outfit  is  to  be 
charged  against  the  factor,  and  that  factor  is  to  have 
his  own  standard  of  money  prices.  One-half  of  all 
net  profits  goes  to  the  servants — one-sixth  to  the  chief 
factor,  one-sixth  to  the  traveling  traders,  one-sixth 
to  the  general  laborers.  General  superintendents 
are  to  have  salaries  of  £400  a  year;  factors,  £150; 
traders,  ;i£ioo;  clerks,  ;^5o;  and  servants  are  to 
have  in  addition  to  their  wages  thirty  acres  of  land, 
ten  extra  acres  for  every  two  years  they  serve. 

It  was  as  if  the  Governing  Committee  of  London 
were  the  heart  of  a  dying  body  and  these  proposals 
the  spasmodic  efforts  to  galvanize  the  outer  ex- 
tremities of  the  system  into  life.  At  this  stage  Lord 
Selkirk  came  into  action  with  a  scheme  that  not  only 
galvanized  the  languid  Company  into  life,  but  para- 
lyzed the  rival  Nor' Westers  with  its  boldness. 

After  buying  control  in  the  Company,  Selkirk  had 
laid  the  charter  before  the  highest  legal  critics  of 
England.  Was  it  valid?  Did  the  Company  possess 
exclusive  rights  to  trade,  exclusive  rights  to  property, 
power  to  levy  war?    That  was  what  the  charter  set 

120 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


forth.  Did  .the  Company  possess  the  rights  set 
forth  by  the  charter?     Yes  or  no — did  they?" 

The  highest  legal  authorities  answered  unequivo- 
cally— Yes:   the  Company  possessed  the  rights. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  that  legal  minds  trained 
in  a  country,  where  feudalism  is  revered  next  to  God, 
should  pronounce  the  chartered  rights  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  valid. 

One  fact  was  ignored — the  rights  given  by  the 
charter  applied  only  to  regions  not  possessed  by  any 
other  Christian  subject.  Before  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  had  ascended  the  Saskatchewan,  French 
traders  had  gone  west  as  far  as  the  Rockies,  south 
as  far  as  the  Missouri,  and  when  French  power  fell, 
the  Nor'Westers  as  successors  to  the  French  had 
pushed  across  the  Rockies  to  the  Pacific,  north  as 
far  as  the  Arctic,  south  as  far  as  the  Snake. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  that  the  Nor'Westers 
should  regard  the  rights  of  first  possession  as  stronger 
than  any  English  charter. 

Which  was  right,  Nor'Wester,  or  Hudson's  Bay? 
Little  gain  to  answer  that  burning  question  at  this 
late  day!  From  their  own  view,  each  was  right; 
and  to-day  looking  back,  every  person's  verdict  will 
be  given  just  and  in  exact  proportion  as  feudalism  or 
democracy  is  regarded  as  the  highest  tribunal. 

All  unconscious  of  the  part  he  was  acting  in  des- 

121 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

tiny,  thinking  only  of  the  fearful  needs  of  Earth's 
Dispossessed,  dreaming  only  of  his  beloved  colony, 
Lord  Selkirk  was  pushing  feudalism  to  its  supreme 
test  in  the  New  World.  Of  the  nobility,  Selkirk 
was  a  part  of  feudalism.  He  believed  the  powers 
conferred  by  the  charter  were  right  in  the  highest 
sense  of  the  word,  valid  in  the  eyes  of  the  law;  and 
no  premonition  warned  that  he  was  to  fall  a  noble 
sacrifice  to  his  own  beliefs.  Where  would  the 
world's  progress  be  if  the  onward  movements  of 
the  race  could  be  stopped  by  a  victim  more  or  less? 
Selkirk  saw  only  People  Dispossessed  in  Scotland, 
Lands  Unpeopled  in  America!  The  difhculties  that 
lay  between,  that  were  to  baffle  and  beat  and  send 
him  heartbroken  to  an  early  grave — Selkirk  did  not 
see. 

The  rights  of  the  Company  had  been  pronounced 
valid.  On  February  6,  1811,  Lord  Selkirk  laid  his 
scheme  before  the  Governing  Comm.ittee.  The 
plan  was  of'  such  a  revolutionary  nature,  the  Com- 
mittee begs  to  lay  the  matter  before  a  General  Court 
of  all  shareholders.  After  various  adjourned  meet- 
ings the  General  Court  meets  on  May  30,  181 1.  A 
pin  fall  could  have  been  heard  in  the  Board  Room 
as  the  shareholders  mustered.  Governor  W^illiam 
Mainwaring  is  in  the  chair.     My  Lord  Selkirk  is 

122 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


present.     So  are  all  his  friends.     So  are  six  Nor'- 
Westers  black  with  anger,  among  them  Sir  Alex- 
ander MacKenzie,  and  Edward  Ellice,  son  of  the 
Montreal    merchant.     Their    anger    grows    deeper 
when  they  learn  that  two  of  the  six  Nor'Westers    • 
cannot  vote  because  the  ink  is  not  yet  dry  with  which    ^ 
they  purchased  their  Hudson's  Bay  stock ;  for  share-  \ 
holders  must  have  held  stock  six  months  before  they  * 
may  vote. 

In  brief,  Lord  Selkirk's  scheme  is  that  the  Com-    \ 
pany  grant  him  a  region  for  colonizing  on  Red  River,    | 
in  area  now  known  to  have  been  larger  than  the    « 
British  Isles,  and  to  have  extended  south  of  modem  , 
Manitoba   to   include   half  Minnesota.  .  In  return, 
Lord  Selkirk  binds  himself  to  supply  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  with  two  hundred  servants  a  year  for 
ten  years — whether  over  and  above  that  colony  or 
out  of  that  colony  is  not  stated.    Their  wages  are 
to  be  paid  by  the  Company.     Selkirk  guarantees 
that  the  colony  shall  not  interfere  with  the  Hudson's 
Bay  fur  trade.     Other  details  are  given — how  the 
colonists  are  to  reach  their  country,  how  much  they 
are  to  be  charged  for  passage,  how  much  for  duty. 
The  main  point  is  my  Lord  Selkirk  owning  ;£40,ooo 
out   of   £105,000   capital   and   controlling   another 
£20,000  through  his  friends — asks  for  an  enormous 
grant  of  land  larger  than  the  modem  province  of 

123 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Manitoba — the  very  region  that  CoHn  Robertson 
had  described  to  him  as  a  seat  of  empire — the  stamp- 
ing ground  of  the  great  fur  traders. 

Promptly,  the  Nor'Westers  present  rise  and  lay 
on  the  table  a  protest  against  the  grant.  The  pro- 
test sets  forth  that  Lord  Selkirk  is  giving  no  ade- 
quate returns  for  such  an  enormous  gift — which 
was  very  true  and  might  have  been  added  of  the 
entire  territory  granted  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
by  Charles  II.  If  it  was  to  the  interests  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  to  sell  such  valuable  territory, 
it  should  have  been  done  by  public  sale.  Then 
there  are  no  penalties  attached  to  compel  Selkirk 
to  form  a  settlement.  Also,  the  grant  gives  to  the 
Earl  of  Selkirk  without  any  adequate  return  "an 
immensely  valuable  landed  estate."  And,  "in  event 
of  settlement,  colonization  is  at  all  times  unfavor- 
able to  the  fur  trade."  Other  reasons  the  memori- 
alists give,  but  the  main  one  is  the  reason  they  do 
not  give — that  if  Selkirk  owns  the  central  region  of 
the  fur  country,  he  may  exclude  the  Nor'Westers. 

The  protest  is  tabled  and  ignored.  Sir  Alexander 
MacKenzie  is  so  angry  he  cannot  speak.  This  does 
not  mean  the  grand  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  which 
he  had  planned.  It  means  the  smashing  of  the  fur 
trade  forever.  Ellice,  son  of  the  Montreal  poten- 
tate, sees  the  wealth  of  that  city  crumbling  to  ruins 

124 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


for  the  sake  of  a  blind  enthusiast's  philanthropic 
scheme. 

Some  one  asks  what  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
is  to  receive  for  their  gift  in  perpetuity  to  the  Earl. 

Two  hundred  servants  a  year  for  ten  years! 

But — interjects  a  Nor'Wester — Selkirk  doesn't  pay 
those  servants.    That  comes  out  of  the  Company. 

To  that,  the  Company,  being  Selkirk  himself,  has 
no  answer. 

What  will  Selkirk,  himself,  make  out  of  this  grant? 
Then  Alexander  MacKcnzie  tells  of  agents  going  the 
rounds  of  Scotland  to  gather  subscribers  at  £ioo 
a  piece  to  a  joint  stock  land  company  of  200  shares. 
This  land  company  is  to  send  people  out  to  Red 
River,  either  as  servants  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, which  is  to  pay  them  ;^2o  a  year  in  addition  to 
a  free  grant  of  one  hundred  acres,  or  as  bona  fide 
settlers  who  purchase  the  land  outright  at  a  few 
pence  an  acre.  The  servants  will  be  sent  out  on 
free  passage.  The  settlers  must  pay  £10  ship  money. 
It  needed  no  prophet  to  foretell  fortune  to  the  share- 
holders of  the  land  company  by  the  time  settlers 
enough  had  come  out  to  increase  the  value  of  the 
grant.  This  and  more,  the  six  Nor'Westers  argue 
at  the  General  Court  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany in  the  hot  debate  over  Selkirk's  scheme.  To 
the  Nor'Westers,   Selkirk,   the  dreamer,   with   his 

125 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

head  in  the  clouds  and  his  vision  set  on  help  to  the 
needy  and  his  feet  treading  roughshod  over  the 
^  privileges  of  fur  traders — to  the  Nor' Westers  this 
.Selkirk  is  nothing  but  a  land  speculator,  a  stock 
•jobber,  gambling  for  winnings. 

But  the  chairman,   Governor  Mainwaring,  calls 

the  debaters  to  order.     The  Selkirk  scheme  is  put  to 

the  vote.    To  a  man  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 

shareholders  declare  for  it.     To  a  man  there  vote 

against  it  all  those  Nor'Westers  who  have  bought 

Hudson's  Bay  stock,  except  the  two  whose  purchase 

was  made  but  a  week  before:   £2g,g^'j  of  stock  for 

Selkirk,  ;£i4,823  against  him.     By  a  scratch  of  the 

pen    he  has  received    an   empire  larger  than  the 

British  Isles.     Selkirk  believed  that  he  was  lord  of 

,  this  soil  as  truly  as  he  was  proprietor  of  his  Scottish 

»  estates,  where  men  were  arrested  as  poachers  when 

!  they  hunted. 

"The  North-West  Company  must  be  compelled  to 
quit  my  lands,^^  he  wrote  on  March  31,  1816,  '^espe- 
cially my  post  at  the  forks.  As  it  will  he  necessary 
to  use  force,  I  am  anxious  this  should  he  done  under 
legal  warranty 

"  You  must  give  them  (the  Northwest  Company) 
solemn  warning, ^^  he  writes  his  agent,  'Hhat  the 
land  belongs  to  the  Hudson'' s  Bay  Company.  After 
this  warning,  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  cut  any 

126 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


timber  either  for  building  or  juel.  What  they  have 
cut  should  be  openly  and  forcibly  seized  and  their 
buildings  destroyed.  They  shotdd  be  treated  as 
poachers.  We  are  so  fully  advised  of  the  unimpeach- 
able validity  of  these  rights  of  property,  there  can  be 
no  scruple  in  enforcing  them  when  you  have  the 
physical  means. ''^ 

It  was  the  tragic  mistake  of  a  magnificent  life 
that  Selkirk  attempted  to  graft  the  feudalism  of  an 
old  order  on  the  growing  democracy  of  a  New  World. 
That  his  conduct  was  inspired  by  the  loftiest  motives 
only  renders  the  mistake  doubly  tragic.  Odd  trick  of 
destiny!  The  man  who  sought  to  build  up  a  feudal 
system  in  the  Northwest,  was  the  man  who  forever 
destroyed  the  foundations  of  feudalism  in  America. 

Let  us  follow  his  colonists.  Long  before  the  vote 
had  granted  Selkirk  an  empire,  Scotland  was  being 
scoured  for  settlers  and  servants  by  Colin  Robertson. 
The  new  colony  must  have  a  forceful,  aggressive 
leader  on  the  field.  For  Governor,  Selkirk  chose  a 
forest  ranger  of  the  Ottawa,  who  had  been  an  officer 
in  the  Revolutionary  War  of  America — Captain  Miles 
MacDonell  of  the  riotous  clan,  that  had  waged  such 
murderous  warfare  for  the  Nor' Westers  in  Albany 
Department.  This  was  fighting  fire  with  fire,  with 
a  vengeance — a  MacDonell  against  a  MacDonell. 

127 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

It  was  the  end  of  June,  in  1811,  before  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  ships  sheered  out  from  the  Thames  on 
their   annual   voyage.     Of   the   three   vessels — The 
Prince  oj  Wales,  The  Edward  and  Anne,  The  Eddy- 
stone — destined  to  convey  the  colonists  to  the  Great 
Northwest — The  Eddystone  was  the  ship  which  the 
Nor'Westers  had  formerly  sent  to  the  bay.     Furious 
gales  drove  the  ships  into  Yarmouth  for  shelter,  and 
while  he  waited,  Miles  MacDonell  spent  the  time 
buying  up  field  pieces  and  brass  cannon  for  the 
colony.     "/   have  learned, ^^   he   writes   to   Selkirk, 
^Hhat  Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie  has  pledged  himself 
so  opposed  to  this  project  that  he  will  try  every  means 
in  his  power  to  thwart  itJ^    He  might  have  added 
that  Simon  McGillivray,  the  Nor'Wester,  was  busy 
in  London  in  the  same  sinister  conspiracy.    Writes 
McGillivray  to  his  Montreal  partners  from  London 
\  on  June  i,  181 1,  that  he  and  Ellice  "will  leave  no 
*  means  untried  to  thwart  Selkirk^ s  schemes,  and  being 
J  stockholders  oj  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  we  can 
^  annoy  him  and  learn  his  measures  in  time  to  guard 
\  against  them^ 

Soon  enough  MacDonell  learned  what  form  the 
sinister  plot  was  to  take.  Colonists  enlisted  were 
waiting  at  Stornoway  in  the  Hebrides.  In  all  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  people,  seventy  settlers, 
fifty-nine  clerks  and  laborers,  made  up  of  High- 

128 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


landers,  Orkneymen,  Irish  farmers  and  some  Glasgow 
men.  MacDoncll  was  a  Catholic.  So  were  many 
of  the  Highlanders;  and  Father  Bourke,  the  Irish 
priest,  comes  as  chaplain. 

The  first  sign  of  the  Nor'Westers'  unseen  hand 
was  the  circulation  of  a  mqjicious  pamphlet  called 
''The  Highlander"  among  the  gathered  colonists, 
describing  the  country  as  a  Polar  region  infested 
with  hostile  Indians.  To  counteract  the  spreading 
panic,  MacDonell  ordered  all  the  servants  paid  in 
advance.  Then,  while  baggage  was  being  put 
aboard,  the  men  were  allured  on  shore  to  spend  their 
wages  on  a  night's  spree.  MacDonell  called  on  the 
captain  of  a  man-of-war  acting  as  convoy  to  seize  the 
servants  bodily,  but  five  had  escaped. 

Next  came  the  customs  officer,  a  relative  of  Sir 
Alexander  MacKenzie's,  called  Reid,  a  dissipated 
old  man,  creating  bedlam  and  endless  de^ay  exam- 
ining the  colonists'  baggage.  MacDonell  saw  clearly 
that  if  he  was*  to  have  any  colonists  left  he  must  put 
to  sea  that  very  night;  but  out  rows  another  sham 
officer  of  the  law,  a  Captain  MacKenzie,  to  bawl 
out  the  Emigration  Act  from  his  boat  alongside 
"to  know  if  every  man  was  going  of  his  own  free 
will."  Exasperated  beyond  patience,  some  of  the 
colonists  answered  by  heaving  a  nine-pound  cannon 
ball  into  the  captain's  rowboat.      It  knocked  a  hole 

129 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

through  the  bottom,  and  compelled  IMacKenzie  to 
swim  ashore.  Back  came  another  rowboat  with 
challenge  to  a  duel  for  this  insult;  but  the  baggage 
was  all  on  board.  By  the  grace  of  Heaven,  a  wind 
sprang  up.  At  ii  p.  m.  on  the  25th  of  July,  the 
three  Hudson's  Bay  ships  spread  their  sails  to  the 
wind  and  left  in  such  haste  they  forgot  their  convoy, 
forgot  two  passengers  on  land  whom  Robertson 
rowed  out  like  mad  and  put  on  board,  forgot  to  fire 
farewell  salutes  to  the  harbor  master;  in  fact,  sailed 
I  with  such  speed  that  one  colonist,  who  had  lost  his 
'  courage  and  wanted  to  desert,  had  to  spring  over- 
board and  swim  ashore.  Such  was  the  departure 
of  the  first  colonists  for  the  Great  Northwest. 

The  passage  was  the  longest  ever  experienced  by 
the  Company's  ships.  Sixty-one  days  it  took  for 
these  Pilgrims  of  the  Plains  to  cross  the  ocean. 
Storm  succeeded  storm.  The  old  fur  freighters 
wallowed  in  the  waves  like  water-logged  tubs,  strain- 
ing to  the  pounding  seas  as  if  the  timbers  would  part, 
sails  flapping  to  the  wind  tattered  and  rotten  as  the 
ensigns  of  pirates.  MacDonell  was  furious  that  the 
colonists  should  have  been  risked  on  such  old  hulks, 
and  recommended  the  dismissal  of  all  three  captains 
— Hanwell,  Ramsey  and  Turner;  but  these  mariners 
of  the  North  probably  knew  their  business  when 
they  lowered  sails  and  lay  rolling  to  the  sea.     In  vain 

130 


The  Coming  of  the  Colmiiats 


MacDonell  tried  to  break  the  monotony  of  the  long 
voyage,  by  auctioning  the  baggage  of  the  deserters, 
by  games  and  martial  drill.  One  Walker  stood  for- 
ward and  told  him  to  his  face  that  ''they  had  not 
come  to  fight  as  soldiers  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany: they  had  come  as  free  settlers";  besides,  he 
spread  the  report  that  the  country  did  not  belong 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay  anyway;  the  country  had  been 
found  by  the  French  and  belonged  to  the  Nor'- 
Westers.  MacDonell  probably  guessed  the  rest — 
the  fellow  had  been  primed. 

On  September  the  6th,  the  ships  entered  the 
straits.  There  was  not  much  ice,  but  it  was  high, 
"like  icebergs,"  ^MacDonell  reported.  On  Septem- 
ber 24th,  after  a  calm  passage  across  the  bay,  the 
colonists  anchored  ofif  York  and  landed  on  the  point 
between  Hayes  and  Nelson  Rivers.  Snow  was  fall- 
ing. The  thermometer  registered  eight  degrees 
below  zero.  No  preparations  had  been  made  to 
house  the  people  at  the  fort.  It  was  impossible  to 
proceed  inland,  and  in  the  ships'  cargoes  were  pro- 
visions for  less  than  three  months.  Having  spent 
two  months  on  the  sea,  the  colonists  were  still  a  year 
away  from  their  Promised  Land. 

Nelson  and  Hayes  Rivers — it  will  be  remembered 
— flow  into  Hudson  Bay  with  a  long,  low  point  of 
wooded  marsh  between.    York  was  on  Hayes  River 

131 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  the  south.  It  was  thought  better  hunting  would 
be  found  away  from  the  fort  on  Nelson  River  to  the 
north.  Hither  MacDonell  sent  his  colonists  on 
October  7  th,  crossing  the  frozen  marsh  himself  two 
days  later,  when  he  was  overtaken  by  a  blinding 
blizzard  and  wandered  for  three  hours.  On  the 
north  side  of  the  river,  just  opposite  that  island, 
where  Ben  Gillani  and  Radisson  had  played  their 
game  of  bravado,  were  camped  the  colonists  in  tents 
of  leather  and  sheeting.  The  high  cliff  of  the  river 
bank  sheltered  them  from  the  bitter  north  wind. 
Housed  under  thin  canvas  with  biting  frost  and  a 
howling  storm  that  tore  at  the  tent  flaps  like  a  thing 
of  prey,  the  puny  fire  in  mid-tent  sending  out  poor 
warmth  against  such  cold — this  was  a  poor  home- 
coming for  people  dreaming  of  a  Promised  Land; 
but  the  ships  had  left  for  England.  There  was  no 
turning  back.  The  door  that  had  opened  to  new 
opportunity  had  closed  against  retreat.  Cold  or 
storm,  hungry  or  houseless,  type  of  Pioneers  the 
world  over,  the  colonists  must  face  the  future  and 
go  on. 

By  the  end  of  October,  MacDonell  had  his  people 
housed  in  log  cabins  under  shelter  of  the  river  cliff. 
Moss  and  clay  thatched  the  roofs.  Rough  hewn 
timbers  floored  the  cabins  and  berths  like  a  ship's 
were  placed  in  tiers  around  the  four  walls.     Bedding 

132 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


consisted  of  buffalo  skins  and  a  gray  blanket.  Indian 
hunters  sold  MacDonell  meat  enough  to  supply  the 
colonists  for  the  winter;  and  in  spring  the  people 
witnessed  that  wonderful  traverse  of  the  caribou — 
three  thousand  in  a  herd — moving  eastward  for  the 
summer.  Meat  diet  and  the  depression  of  home- 
sickness brought  the  scourge  of  all  winter  camps — 
scurvy;  but  MacDonell  plied  the  homely  remedy 
of  spruce  beer  and  lost  not  a  man  from  the  disease. 
Winter  was  passed  deer  hunting  to  lay  up  stock 
of  provisions  for  the  inland  journey.  All  would 
have  gone  well  had  it  not  been  for  the  traitors  in 
camp,  with  minds  poisoned  by  Northwest  Company 
spies.  On  Christmas  day,  MacDonell  gave  his  men  a 
feast  and  on  New  Year's  day  the  chief  factor  of 
York,  Mr.  Cook,  sent  across  the  usual  treat.  Irish 
rowdies  celebrated  the  night  by  trying  to  break  the 
heads  of  the  Glasgow  clerks.  Then  the  discontent 
instilled  by  Nor'West  agents  began  to  work.  If  this 
country  did  not  belong  to  the  Hudson's  Bay,  why 
should  these  men  obey  MacDonell?  On  February 
1 2th,  one  put  the  matter  to  the  test  by  flatly  refusing 
to  work.  MacDonell  ordered  the  fellow  confined  in 
a  hut.  Fourteen  of  the  Glasgow  clerks  broke  into 
the  hut,  released  the  rebel,  set  fire  to  the  cabin  and 
spent  the  night  in  a  riotous  dance  round  the  blaze. 
When  MacDonell  haled   the   offenders  before  Mr. 

133 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Hillier,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  they  contemptuously 
walked  out  of  the  extemporized  court.  The  Gov- 
ernor called  on  Mr.  Auld  of  Churchill  for  advice, 
and  learned  from  him  that  by  a  recent  parliamentary 
act  known  as  43rd  Geo.  Ill,  all  legal  disputes  of  the 
Indian  country  could  be  tried  only  in  Canada.  "// 
that  is  so,^^  writes  the  distracted  MacDonell,  seeing 
at  a  glance  all  the  train  of  ills  that  were  to  come 
when  Hudson's  Bay  matters  were  to  be  tried  in  Ca- 
nadian courts  made  up  of  Northwest  partners,  '^then 
adieu  to  all  redress  for  us,  my  lardy 

But  Auld  and  Cook,  the  two  factors,  knew  a  trick 
to  bring  mutineers  to  time.  They  cut  off  all  sup- 
plies. The  men  might  as  well  have  been  marooned 
on  a  desert  island.  By  the  time  boats  were  ready  to 
be  launched  in  June,  the  rebels  were  on  their  knees 
with  contrition.  Wisely,  MacDonell  did  not  take 
such  unruly  spirits  along  as  colonists.  He  left  them 
at  the  forts  as  clerks. 

Spring  came  at  last,  tardy  and  cold  with  bluster- 
ing winds  that  jammed  the  ice  at  the  river  mouths 
and  flooded  the  flats  with  seas  of  floating  floes.  Day 
after  day,  week  after  week,  all  the  month  of  May, 
until  the  21st  of  June,  the  ice  float  swept  past  end- 
lessly on  the  swollen  flood.  MacDonell  ordered  the 
cabins  evacuated  and  baggage  taken  to  Hayes  River 
round  the  submerged  marsh.    At  York,  four  large 

134 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


boats — twenty-eight  feet  long  and  flat-bottomed 
— were  in  readiness  to  convey  the  people.  While 
the  colonists  camped,  there  came  sweeping  down  the 
Hayes  on  June  the  29th,  in  light  birch  canoes,  the 
spring  fur  brigade  of  Saskatchewan,  led  by-Bird  and 
Howse.  All  rivers  were  reported  free  of  ice.  Mac- 
Donell  marshaled  his  colonists  to  return  with  the 
brigade. 

Father  Burke,  who  was  to  drum  up  more  colonists 
at  home,  the  chief  factors  Auld  and  Cook,  and  the 
Company  men  watched  the  launching  of  the  boats 
the  first  week  of  July.  Baggage  stored,  all  hands 
aboard,  all  craft  afloat — the  head  steersman  gives 
the  signal  by  dipping  his  pole.  The  priest  waves  a 
God-speed.  The  colonists  signal  back  their  farewell 
— farewell  to  the  despair  of  the  long  winter,  farewell 
to  the  lonely  bay,  farewell  to  the  desolate  little  fort 
on  the  verge  of  this  forsaken  world!  Come  what 
may,  they  are  forward  bound,  to  the  New  Life  in 
their  Promised  Land. 

If  we  could  all  of  us  see  the  places  along  the  trail 
to  a  Promised  Land,  few  would  set  out  on  the  quest. 
The  trail  that  the  colonists  followed  was  the  path 
inland  that  Kelsey  had  traversed  with  the  Indians  a 
century  before,  and  Hendry  gone  up  in  1754,  and 
Cocking  in  1772,  up  Hayes  River  to  Lake  Winnipeg. 
While  the  fur  brigade  made  the  portages  easily  with 

135 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

their  light  canoes,  the  colonists  were  hampered  by 
their  heavy  boats,  which  had  to  be  rolled  along 
logs  where  they  could  not  be  tracked  up  rapids.  In- 
stead of  three  weeks  to  go  from  York  to  Lake 
Winnipeg,  it  took  two  months.  The  end  of  August, 
1812,  saw  their  boats  heading  up  Red  River  for  the 
Forks,  now  known  as  Winnipeg.  Instead  of  rocks 
and  endless  cataracts  and  swamp  woods,  there  opened 
to  view  the  rolling  prairie,  russet  and  mellow  in  the 
August  sunlight  with  the  leather  tepee  of  wandering 
Cree  dotting  the  river  banks,  and  where  the  Assini- 
boine  flowed  in  from  the  west — the  palisades  of  the 
Nor' Westers'  fort.  MacDonell  did  not  ascend  as 
high  as  the  rival  fort.  He  landed  his  colonists  at 
that  bend  in  Red  River,  two  miles  north  of  the 
Assiniboine,  where  he  built  his  cabins,  afterward 
named  Douglas  in  honor  of  Selkirk.  Painted  In- 
dians rode  across  the  prairie  to  gaze  at  the  spectacle 
of  these  "land  workers"  come  not  to  hunt  but  to  till 
the  soil.  No  hostility  was  evinced  by  the  Nor'- 
Westers,  for  word  of  the  Northwest  Company's  policy 
had  not  yet  come  from  London  to  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  winterers  at  Fort  W^illiam.  The  Highlanders 
'  were  delighted  to  find  Scotchmen  at  Fort  Gibraltar 
who  spoke  Gaelic  like  themselves,  and  the  Nor'- 
Westers  willingly  sold  provisions  to  help  the  settlers. 
In  accordance  with  Selkirk's  instructions,  Mac- 

136 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Donell  laid  out  farm  plots  of  ten  acres  near  the  fort, 
and  farm  plots  of  one  hundred  acres  farther  down 
the  river  at  what  is  now  known  in  memory  of  the 
settlers'  Scottish  home  as  Kildonan.  The  farm  lots 
were  small  so  that  the  colonists  could  be  together 
in  case  of  danger.  The  houses  of  this  community 
were  known  as  the  Colony  Buildings  in  distinction 
from  the  fort.  It  was  too  late  to  do  any  farming,  so 
the  people  spent  the  winter  of  1813  buffalo  hunting 
westward  of  Pembina. 

Meanwhile,  Selkirk  and  Robertson  had  not  been 
idle.  The  summer  that  Miles  MacDonell  had  led 
his  colonists  to  Red  River,  twenty  more  families  had 
arrived  on  the  bay.  They  had  been  brought  by  Sel- 
kirk's Irish  agent,  Owen  Keveny.  The  same  plot- 
ting and  counter-plotting  of  an  enemy  with  unseen 
motives  marked  their  passage  out  as  had  harassed 
MacDonell.  Barely  were  the  ships  at  sea  when 
mutineers  set  the  passengers  all  agog  planning  to 
murder  officers,  seize  the  ships  and  cruise  the  world 
as  pirates;  but  the  colonists  betrayed  the. treachery 
to  the  captain.  Armed  men  were  placed  at  the 
hatches,  and  the  swivel  guns  wheeled  to  sweep  the 
decks  from  stem  to  stem.  The  conspirator  that 
first  thrust  his  head  above  decks  received  a  swashing 
blow  that  cut  his  arm  clean  from  his  shoulder,  and 
the   plot   dissolved   in   sheer   fright.     Keveny   now 

137 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ruled  with  iron  hand.  Offenders  were  compelled 
to  run  the  gauntlet  between  men  lined  up  on  each 
side  armed  with  stout  sticks;  and  the  trickery — if 
trickery  it  were  by  Nor' West  spies — to  demoralize 
the  colonists  ceased  for  that  passage. 

Father  Burke,  waiting  to  return  by  these  ships, 
welcomed  the  colonists  ashore  at  York,  and  before 
he  sailed  for  Ireland  performed  the  first  formal  mar- 
riage ceremony  in  the  Northwest.  The  Catholic 
priest  married  two  Scotch  Presbyterians — an  inci- 
dent typical  to  all  time  of  that  strange  New  World 
power,  which  forever  breaks  down  Old  World  bar- 
riers. The  colonists  were  so  few  this  year,  that  the 
majority  could  be  housed  in  the  fort.  Some  eight 
or  ten  risked  winter  travel  and  set  out  for  Red  River, 
which  they  reached  in  October;  but  the  trip  inland  so 
late  was  perilous.  Three  men  had  camped  to  fish  with 
the  Company  servants  on  Lake  Winnipeg.  Fishing 
failed.  Winter  closed  the  lake  to  travel.  The  men 
went  forward  on  foot  along  the  east  shore  south- 
ward for  Red  River.  Daily  as  they  tramped,  their 
strength  dwindled  and  the  cold  increased.  A  chance 
rabbit,  a  prairie  chicken,  moss  boiled  in  water — 
kept  them  from  starvation,  but  finally  two  could 
journey  no  farther  and  lay  down  on  the  wind-swept 
ice  to  die.  The  third  hurried  desperately  forward, 
hoping  against  hope,  doggedly  resolved  if  he  must 

138 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


perish  to  die  hard.  Suddenly,  a  tinkling  of  dog 
bells  broke  the  winter  stillness  and  the  pack  trains 
of  Northwest  hunters  came  galloping  over  the  ice. 
In  a  twinkling,  the  overjoyed  colonist  had  signaled 
them  and  told  his  story,  and  in  less  time  than  it  takes 
to  relate,  the  Nor'Westers  were  off  to  the  rescue. 
The  three  starving  men  were  carried  to  the  North- 
west fort  at  Winnipeg  River  where  they  were  cared 
for  till  they  regained  strength.  Then  they  were  given 
food  enough  to  supply  them  for  the  rest  of  the  way 
to  the  settlement.  Plainly — if  the  Nor'Westers'  op- 
position to  Lord  Selkirk's  colony  had  been  confined 
to  trickery  at  the  ports  of  sailing,  there  would  be  no 
tragedy  to  relate;  but  the  next  year  witnessed  an 
aggressive  change  of  policy  on  both  sides,  which  had 
fatal  consequences. 


Noies  to  Chapter  XXVI.  —  The  data  for  this  chapter  are 
mainly  drawn  from  H.  B.  C.  papers,  minute  books  and  memo- 
rials. There  are  also  some  very  important  letters  in  the  Canadian 
Archives,  namely  on  1897  Report — State  Papers  of  Lower 
Canada — letters  of  Simon  MacGillivray ;  also  in  1886  Report, 
letters  of  Miles  MacDonell  to  Lord  Selkirk  on  the  colony.  I 
had  made  in  the  Public  Records  Office  of  London  exact  trans- 
cript of  all  confidential  state  papers  bearing  on  this  era.  These 
also  refer  to  the  hostility  of  MacKenzie  and  MacGillivray. 
Donald  Gunn  who  was  one  of  the  colonists  of  18 13,  is,  of  course, 
the  highest  authority  on  the  emigration  of  that  year.  Three 
volumes  throw  sidelights  on  the  events  of  this  and  the  suc- 
ceeding chapter,  though  it  must  be  observed  all  are  partisan 
statements;  namely,  "Narrative  of  Occurrences  on  the  Indian 
Country,  London,  181 7,"  which  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a 
brief  for  the  Nor'Westers;  "Statement  Respecting  Earl  of  Sel- 
kirk's Settlements,'-'  London,  181 7,  which  is  the  H.  B.  C.  side  of 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


the  story;  and  "Amos'  Report  of  Trials,"  London,  1820;  also 
extremely  partisan.  The  scope  of  this  work  does  not  admit  of 
ampler  treatment,  but  in  view  of  the  coming  centenary  of 
colonization  in  the  West,  it  should  be  interesting  to  know  that 
the  heirs  of  Lord  Selkirk  have  some  three  thousand  letters 
bearing  on  this  famous  colony  and  its  disputes. 

I  should  not  need  to  explain  here  that  the  novel,  "Lords  of 
the  North,"  was  not  written  as  history,  but  as  fiction,  to  portray 
the  most  picturesque  period  in  Canadian  life,  and  the  story  was 
told  as  from  a  Nor' Wester,  not  because  the  author  sided  with  the 
Nor'Westers  in  their  fight,  but  because  the  Nor' Westers  sending 
their  brigades  from  Montreal  to  the  Pacific  afforded  the  story- 
teller as  a  Nor' Wester  a  broader  and  more  dramatic  field  than 
the  narrator  could  have  had  telling  it  as  a  Hudson's  Bay  parti- 
san. Let  me  explain  why.  The  only  expedition  sent  from 
Montreal  west  by  the  H.  B.  C.  at  that  time  was  a  dismal  fiasco 
in  a  region  where  the  story  of  the  stolen  wife  did  not  lead.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  N.  W.  C.  canoes  that  left  Montreal  in  1815 
led  directly  to  the  region  traversed  by  the  unfortunate  captive. 
Therefore,  I  told  the  story  as  a  Nor  Wester  and  was  surprised 
to  receive  furious  letters  of  defense  from  H.  B.  C.  descendants. 
Apart  from  this  disguise  and  one  or  two  intentional  disguises 
in  names  and  locale,  I  may  add  that  every  smallest  detail  is 
taken  from  facts  on  the  life  at  that  time.  These  disguises  I 
used  because  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  flaunt  as  fiction  names 
of  people  whose  grandchildren  are  prominent  among  us  to-day; 
certainly  not  to  flaunt  the  full  details  of  the  captive  woman's 
sufferings  when  her  son  has  been  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  in  Canada. 

Robertson's  letters — unpublished — contain  the  most  graphic 
description  of  the  West  as  a  coming  empire  that  I  have  ever  read. 
There  is  no  mistaking  where  Selkirk  got  his  inspiration — why 
he  decided  to  send  settlers  to  Manitoba  instead  of  Ontario.  More 
of  Robertson  will  follow  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 


140 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
1813-1820 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  COLONISTS  CONTINTJED — MAC- 
DONELL  ATTEMPTS  TO  CARRY  OUT  THE  RIGHTS 
OF  FEUDALISM  ON  RED  RIVER — NOR'WESTERS 
RESENT — THE  COLONY  DESTROYED  AND  DIS- 
PERSED— SELKIRK  TO  THE  RESCUE — LAJIMON- 
IERE'S   long   voyage — CLARKE   IN   ATHABASCA. 

YEARLY  the  Hudson's  Bay  boats  now  brought 
their  little  quota  of  settlers  for  Red  River. 
On  June  28,  1813,  more  than  ninety  em- 
barked in  The  Prince  oj  Wales  at  Stromness.  Ser- 
vants and  laborers  took  passage  on  The  Eddystone. 
On  the  third  ship) — a  small  brig — went  missionaries 
to  Labrador,  Moravian  Brethren.  More  diverse 
elements  could  not  have  made  up  a  colony.  There 
were  young  girls  coming  out  alone  to  a  lawless  land 
to  make  homes  for  aged  parents  the  next  year.  Sit- 
ting disconsolate  on  all  their  earthly  belongings  done 
up  in  canvas  bags,  were  an  old  patriarch  and  his 
wife  evicted  from  Scottish  home,  coming  to  battle 
in  the  wilderness  without  children's  aid.  Irish 
Catholics,    staid    Scotch    Presbyterians,    dandified 

141 


The  Conquest  oj  the  Great  Northwest 

Glasgow  clerks,  rough,  gruff,  bluff,  red-cheeked 
Orkneymen,  younger  sons  of  noble  families  taking 
service  in  the  wilds  as  soldiers  of  fortune,  soft  speak- 
ing, shy,  demure  Moravian  sisters  and  brethren — 
made  up  the  motley  throng  crowding  the  decks  of 
the  vessels  at  Stromness. 

As  the  capstan  chains  were  clanking  their  sing- 
song of  "anchor  up,"  there  was  the  sudden  confu- 
sion of  a  conscription  officer  rushing  to  arrest  a  young 
emigrant.  He  had  been  the  lover  of  a  Highland 
daughter  and  had  deserted  following  her  to  Red 
River.  Then  sails  were  spread  to  a  swelling  breeze. 
While  the  young  girl  was  still  gazing  disconsolately 
over  the  railing  toward  the  vanishing  form  of  her 
lover,  the  shores  began  to  recede,  the  waters  to 
widen.  The  farewell  figures  on  the  wharf  huzzahed. 
Men  and  women  on  deck  waved  their  bonnets — all 
but  the  old  couple  sitting  alone  on  the  canvas  sacks. 
Tears  blurred  their  vision  when  they  saw  the  hills 
of  their  native  land  fade  and  sink  forever  on  the 
horizon  of  the  sea. 

Two  days  later,  there  was  a  cry  of  "Sail  Ho!"  and 
the  little  fleet  pursued  an  American  privateer  towing 
a  British  captive.  The  privateer  cuts  the  tow  rope 
and  shows  heels  to  the  sea.  Darkness  falls,  and 
when  morning  comes  neither  captive  nor  captor  is  in 
sight.    The  passage  is  swift  across  a  remarkably 

142 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


easy  sea — good  winds,  no  gales,  no  plots,  no  muti- 
nies; and  the  ships  are  in  the  straits  of  Hudson's 
Bay  by  the  end  of  July;  but  typhus  fever  has  broken 
out  on  The  Prince  of  Wales.  Daily  the  bodies  of 
the  dead  are  lowered  over  decks  to  a  watery  grave. 
At  the  straits  the  boat  with  the  Moravian  mission- 
aries strikes  south  for  Labrador.  August  12th,  the 
other  ships  run  up  the  narrow  rock-girt  harbor  of 
Churchill,  past  the  stone-walled  ruins  of  the  fort 
destroyed  by  La  Perouse  to  the  new  modern  fur 
post. 

It  is  not  deemed  wise  to  keep  the  ill  and  the  well 
together.  The  former  are  given  quarters  under 
sheeting  tents  in  the  ruins  of  the  old  stone  fort.  The 
rest  go  on  by  land  and  boat  south  to  York.  The 
forests  that  used  to  surround  Churchill  have  been 
burnt  back  for  twenty  miles,  and  when  the  fever 
patients  recover,  they  retreat  to  the  woods  for  the 
winter;  all  but  the  old  couple  who  winter  in  the 
stone  fort  whose  ruins  are  typical  of  their  own  lives. 
Fine  weather  favors  the  settlers'  journey  south, 
though  this  wilderness  travel  'with  ridge  stones 
that  cut  their  feet  and  swamps  to  mid-waist,  gives 
them  a  foretaste  of  the  trail  leading  to  their  Promised 
Land.  Fifty  miles  distant  from  York,  they  run 
short  of  food  and  must  boil  nettle  leaves;  but  hunger 
spurs  speed.    Next  night  they  are  on  the  shores  of 

143 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Nelson  River  round  a  huge  bonfire  kindled  to  signal 
York  Fort  for  boats  to  ferry  the  Nelson, 

April,  1814,  the  colonists  are  again  united.  Those 
who  wintered  at  Churchill  sled  down  to  York.  On 
the  way  over  the  snow,  Angus  McKay's  wife  gives 
birth  to  a  child.  There  are  not  provisions  enough 
for  the  other  colonists  to  wait  with  McKay,  but  they 
put  up  his  sheeting  tent  for  him,  and  bank  it  warmly 
with  buffalo  robes,  and  give  him  of  their  scant  stores, 
and  leave  the  lonely  Highlander  with  musket  and  a 
roaring  fire,  on  guard  against  wolves.  What  were 
the  thoughts  of  the  woman  within  the  tent  only  the 
pioneer  heart  may  guess.  June  ist,  all  the  colonists 
were  welcomed  to  Red  River  by  Miles  MacDonell, 
who  gave  to  each  two  Indian  ponies,  one  hundred 
acres,  ammunition  and  firearms.  Of  implements  to 
till  the  soil,  there  is  not  one.  There  was  no  other 
course  but  to  join  the  buffalo  hunters  of  Pembina 
and  lay  up  a  supply  of  meat  for  the  year.  Then 
began  a  life  of  wandering  and  suffering.  Those 
families  that  could,  remained  at  the  Colony  Build- 
ings while  the  men  hunted.  Those  who  had  neither 
the  money  nor  the  credit  to  buy  provisions,  followed 
hunters  afield.  The  snow  was  late  in  falling,  but 
the  winter  had  set  in  bitterly  cold.  There  was  neither 
canoeing  nor  sleighing.  Over  the  wind-swept  plains 
trudged   the   colonists,  ill-clad   against   such  cold, 

144 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


camping  at  nights  in  the  hospitable  tepee  of  wander- 
ing Indians  or  befriended  with  a  chance  meal  by 
passing  hunters.  At  Pembina  log  cabins  with  sod.  . 
roofs  were  knocked  up  for  wintering  quarters,  and 
the  place  was  called  Fort  Daer  after  one  of  Selkirk's 
names.  No  matter  what  happened  afterward,  let 
it  be  placed  to  the  everlasting  credit  of  the  buffalo 
hunters;  their  kindness  this  winter  of  1814-15  saved 
the  settlers  from  perishing  of  starvation.  Settlers 
do  not  make  good  buffalo  runners.  The  Plain 
Rangers  shared  their  hunt  with  the  newcomers, 
loaned  them  horses,  housed  men  and  women,  helped 
to  build  cabins  and  provided  furs  for  clothing. 

They  had  arrived  in  June.    The  preceding  Janu- 
ary of  1 814,  Miles  MacDonell  had  committed  the 
cardinal  error  of  the  colony.     He  was,  of  course, 
only  carrying  out  Selkirk's  ideas.    What  the  motive 
was  matters  little.    The  best  of  motives  paves  the 
way  to  the  blackest  tragedies.     Old  World  feudalism 
threw  down  its  challenge  to  New  World  democracy. 
Selkirk  had  ordered  that  intruders  on  his  vast  domain 
must  be  treated  as  poachers,  "resisted  with  physical 
force   if   you    have   the    means."     Conscientiously,   ♦ 
Selkirk  believed  that  he  had  the  same  right  to  exclude  » 
hunters    from    the    fenceless   prairies   as   to   order  ' 
poachers  from  his  Scottish  estates. 

On  January  8,  18 14,  Miles  MacDonell,  in  the 
145 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

name  of  Lord  Selkirk,  forbade  anyone,  "the  North- 
west Company  or  any  persons  whatsoever,"  taking 
►provisions,  dried  meat,  food  of  any  sort  by  land  or 
water  from  Assiniboia,  except  what  might  be  needed 
for  traveling,  and  this  only  by  license.  This  meant 
the  stoppage  of  all  hunting  in  a  region  as  large  as  the 
British  Isles.  It  meant  more.  All  the  Northwest 
brigades  depended  on  the  buffalo  meat  of  Red  River 
for  their  food.  It  meant  the  crippling  of  the  North- 
west Company. 

MacDonell  averred  that  he  issued  the  proclamation 
to  prevent  starvation.  This  was  nonsense.  If  he 
feared  starvation,  his  Hudson's  Bay  hunters  could 
have  killed  enough  buffalo  in  three  months  to  sup- 
port five  thousand  colonists  as  the  Northwesters 
supported  five  thousand  men — let  alone  a  sparse 
settlement  of  three  hundred  souls. 

The  Nor' Westers  declared  that  McDonell  had 
issued  the  order  because  he  knew  the  War  of  1812  had 
cut  off  their  Montreal  supplies  and  they  were  de- 
pendent solely  on  Red  River.  Proofs  seemed  to 
justify  the  charge,  for  Peter  Fidler,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  man,  writing  in  his  diary  on  June  21,  18 14,  be- 
wails "if  the  Captain  (MacDonell)  had  only  perse- 
vered, he  could  have  starved  them  (the  Nor' Westers) 
out." 

The  Nor'Westers  ignored  the  order  with  the  in- 

146 


The  Coining  of  the  Colonists 


difference  of  supreme  contempt.  Not  so  the  Half- 
breeds  and  Indians!  What  meant  this  taking  of 
their  lands  by  a  great  Over-lord  beyond  the  seas? 
Since  time  immemorial  had  the  Indians  wandered 
free  as  wind  over  the  plains.  Who  was  this  "chief 
of  the  land  workers,"  "governor  of  the  gardeners," 
that  he  should  interdict  their  hunts? 

"You  are  to  enforce  these  orders  wherever  you 
have  the  physical  means,"  Selkirk  instructed  Mac- 
Donell.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  buffalo 
hunter  between  Pembina  and  the  Missouri  came  back 
to  Red  River  by  two  trails,  (i)  west  to  Pembina,  (2) 
north  to  Souris.  A  party  of  armed  Hudson's  Bay  \ 
men  led  by  John  Warren  came  on  the  Northwest 
hunters  west  of  Pembina — in  American  territory —  1 
and  at  bayonet  point  seized  the  pemmican  stores 
of  those  Plain  Rangers  who  had  helped  the  wander- 
ing colonists.  Then  John  Spencer  with  more  men 
ascended  the  Assiniboine  armed  with  a  sheriff's  ^ 
warrant  and  demanded  admittance  to  the  North- 
west fort  of  Souris.  Pritchard,  the  Nor'Wester  in- 
side, bolted  the  gates  fast  and  asked  what  in  thunder 
such  impertinence  meant.  Spencer  passed  his  war- 
rant in  through  the  wicket.  Pritchard  called  back 
a  very  candid  and  disrespectful  opinion  of  such  a 
warrant,  adding  if  they  wanted  in,  they  would  have 
to  break  in;  he  would  not  open.      The  warrant 

147 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


> 


authorizing  Spencer  "to  break  open  posts,  locks  and 
doors,"  his  men  at  once  hacked  down  palisades  and 
drew  the  staples  of  the  iron  bolts.     Six  hundred 

\  bags  of  pemmican  were  seized  and  only  enough  re- 
turned to  convey  the  Nor' Westers  beyond  the  limits 

,  of  Selkirk's  domain. 

When  news  of  this  was  carried  down  to  the  annual 
meeting  of  Nor'Westers  at  Fort  William,  in  July, 
1 8 14,  the  effect  can  be  more  readily  guessed  than 
told.  Rumors  true  and  untrue  filled  the  air;  how 
Nortliwest  canoes  had  been  held  up  on  the  Assini- 
boine;  how  cannon  had  been  pointed  across  Red 
River  to  stop  the  incoming  Northwest  express;  how 
the  colonists  refused  to  embroil  themselves  in  a  fur 
traders'  war;  how  Peter  Fidler  threatened  to  flog 
men  who  refused  to  fight.  Such  news  to  the  haughty 
Nor'Westers  was  a  fuse  to  dynamite.  "It  is  the  first 
time  the  Nor'Westers  have  ever  permitted  them- 
selves to  be  insulted,"  declares  William  McGillivray. 
The  fiery  partners  planned  their  campaign.  At  any 
cost  "a  decisive  blow  must  be  struck."  Cuthbert 
Grant,  the  Plain  Ranger,  is  to  keep  his  hand  on  all 
the  buffalo  hunters.  James  Grant  of  Fond  du  Lac 
and  Red  Lake,  Minnesota,  is  to  see  to  it  that  the 
Pillager  Indians  are  staunch  to  Nor'Westers,  Dun- 
can Cameron,  who  had  worked  so  dauntlessly  in 
Albany  region  and  who  had  title  to  the  captaincy  of 

148 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


a  Canadian  regiment,  was  to  don  his  red  regimentals, 
sword  and  all,  and  hold  the  Forks  at  Red  River  to 
win  the  colonists  across  to  the  Nor'Westers.  And 
on  the  Assiniboine — it  is  to  be  a  MacDonell  against 
a  MacDonell;  he  of  the  murderous  work  in  the 
Albany  region  with  revenge  in  his  heart  for  the  death 
of  his  brother  at  Hudson's  Bay  hands — Alex  Mac- 
Donell is  to  command  the  river  and  keep  the  trail 
westward  open. 

^^ Samething  serious  will  take  place"  writes  Alex  j 
MacDonell  on  August  5,  18 14.  '^Nothing  but  the  v 
complete  downjall  of  the  colony  will  satisfy  some  by  \ 
fair  or  foul  means — So  here  is  at  them  with  all  my  \ 
heart  and  energy."  "I  wish,"  wrote  Cameron  to  ^ 
Grant  of  Minnesota,  ^'that  some  of  your  Pilleurs 
(Pillagers)  who  are  full  of  mischief  and  plunder 
would  pay  a  hostile  visit  to  these  sons  of  gunpowder  and  I 
riot  (the  Hudson's  Bay).  They  might  make  good  < 
booty  if  they  went  cunningly  to  work;  not  that  I  wish  < 
butchery;  God  forbid." 

Dangerous  enough  was  the  mood  of  the  North- 
westers returning  to  their  field  without  adding  fuel 
to  flame;  but  no  sooner  were  they  back  than  Miles 
MacDonell  served  them  with  notices  in  Lord  Sel- 
kirk's name,  to  remove  their  posts  from  Assiniboia 
within  six  months,  otherwise  the  order  ran,  "i/  after  \ 
this  notice,  your  buildings  are  continued,  I  shall  be  i 

149 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

under  the  necessity  oj  razing  them  to  the  founda- 
tions." 

As  might  have  been  expected,  events  came  thick 
and  fast.  Cameron  spoke  Gaelic.  In  six  months 
he  had  won  the  confidence  of  the  settlers.  Dances 
were  given  at  the  Nor'Westers'  fort  by  Cameron  all 
the  winter  of  1814-15,  the  bagpipes  skirling  reels 
and  jigs  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  colonists,  who  little 
dreamed  that  the  motive  was  to  dance  them  out  of 
the  colony.  The  late  daylight  of  the  frosty  winter 
mornings  would  see  the  pipers  Green  and  Hector 
MacDonell  plying  their  bagpipes,  marching  proudly 
at  the  head  of  a  line  of  settlers  along  the  banks  of  Red 
River  coming  home  from  a  wild  night  of  it.  If  the 
colonists  objected  to  fighting,  Cameron  kindly  advised, 
let  them  bring  the  brass  cannon  and  muskets  from 
the  Colony  Buildings  across  to  Fort  Gibraltar.  Miles 
MacDonell  had  no  right  to  compel  them  to  fight, 
and  the  colony  cannon  were  actually  hauled  across 
in  sleighs  one  night  to  the  Northwest  fort.  Then 
weird  tales  flew  from  ear  to  ear  of  danger  from 
Indian  attack.  Half-breeds  were  heard  passing  the 
colony  cabins  at  midnight  singing  their  war  songs. 
Mysterious  fusillades  of  musketry  broke  from  the 
darkness  on  other  nights.  Some  of  the  people  were 
so  terrified  toward  summer  that  they  passed  the 
nights  sleeping  in  boats  on  the  river.     Others  ap- 

150 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


pealed  to  Cameron  for  protection.  The  crafty  Nor'-  ^ 
Wester  offered  to  convey  all,  who  wished  to  leave,  ^ 
free  of  cost  and  with  full  supply  of  provisions,  to  , 
Eastern  Canada.  One  hundred  and  forty  people  J 
went  bodily  across  to  the  Nor'Westers.  Is  it  any 
wonder?  They  had  not  known  one  moment  of 
security  since  coming  to  this  Promised  Land.  They 
had  looked  for  peace  and  found  themselves  pawns 
in  a  desperate  game  between  rival  traders.  Then 
Cameron  played  his  trump  card.  Before  the  annual 
brigade  set  out  for  Fort  William  in  June  of  1815,  he 
sent  across  a  legal  warrant  to  arrest  Miles  Mac- 
Donell  for  plundering  the  Nor'Westers'  pemmican. 
MacDonell  was  desperate.  His  people  were  desert- 
ing. The  warrant,  though  legal  in  Canadian  courts, 
had  been  issued  by  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who  was 
a  Nor'West  partner — Archibald  Norman  McLeod, 
'i^or  two  weeks  the  Plains  Rangers  had  been  hang- 
ing on  the  outskirts  of  the  colony  j&ring  desultory 
shots  in  an  innocent  diversion  that  brought  visions 
of  massacre  to  the  terrified  people.  A  chance  ball 
whizzed  past  the  ear  of  someone  in  Fort  Douglas. 
MacDonell  fired  a  cannon  to  clear  the  marauders 
from  the  surrounding  brushwood.  The  effect  was 
instantaneous.  A  shower  of  bullets  peppered  Fort 
Douglas.  One  of  the  fort  cannon  exploded.  In  the 
confusion,  whether  from  the  enemy's  shots  or  their 

151 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

own,  four  or  five  were  wounded,  Mr.  Warren  fatally. 
The  people  begged  MacDonell  to  save  the  colony  by 
giving  himself  up.  On  June  21st,  the  governor  sur- 
rendered and  was  taken  along  with  Cameron's  bri- 
gade and  the  deserting  colonists  to  Montreal  for 
trial.  Needless  to  tell,  he  was  never  tried.  Mean- 
time, Cameron  had  no  sooner  gone,  than  the  rem- 
nant of  the  colony  was  surrounded  by  Cuthbert 
Grant's  Rangers.  The  people  were  warned  to  save 
themselves  by  flight.  Nightly,  cabins  and  hay  ricks 
blazed  to  the  sky.  In  terror  of  their  lives,  abandon- 
ing everything — the  people  launched  out  on  Red 
River  and  fled  in  blind  fright  for  Lake  Winnipeg. 
The  Colony  Buildings  were  burned  to  the  ground. 
The  houses  were  plundered;  the  people  dispersed. 
By  June  25th,  of  Selkirk's  colony  there  was  not  a 
vestige  but  the  ruined  fields  and  trampled  crops. 
Inside  Fort  Douglas  were  only  three  Hudson's  Bay 
s^men. 

The  summer  brigade  from  York  usually  reached 
Lake  Winnipeg  in  August.  The  harried  settlers 
camped  along  the  east  shore  waiting  for  help  from 
the  North.  To  their  amazement,  help  came  from 
an  opposite  direction.  One  morning  in  August  they 
were  astonished  to  see  a  hundred  canoes  sweep  up 
as  if  from  Canada,  flying  the  Hudson's  Bay  flag. 

152 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Signals  brought  the  voyageurs  ashore — two  hundred 
Frenchmen  led  by  Selkirk's  agent,  Colin  Robertson, 
bound  from  Quebec  up  the  Saskatchewan  to  Atha- 
basca. Robertson  had  all  along  advocated  fighting 
fire  with  fire;  employing  French  wood-runners  in- 
stead of  timorous  Orkneymen,  and  forcing  the  proud 
Nor'Westers  to  sue  for  union  by  invading  the  richest 
field  of  furs — Athabasca,  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
Red  River.  And  here  was  Robertson  carrying  out 
his  aggressive  policy,  with  "fighting  John  Clarke" 
of  Astor's  old  company  as  second  in  command.  The 
news  he  brought  restored  the  faint  courage  of  the 
people.  Lord  Selkirk  was  coming  to  Red  River 
next  year.  A  new  governor  had  been  appointed  at 
£i,ooo  a  year — Robert  Semple,  a  famous  traveler, 
son  of  a  Philadelphia  merchant.  Semple  had  em- 
barked for  Hudson's  Bay  a  few  months  after  Rob- 
ertson had  sailed  to  raise  recruits  in  Quebec.  With 
Semple  were  coming  one  hundred  and  sixty  more 
colonists,  a  Doctor  Wilkinson  as  secretary,  and  a 
Lieutenant  Holte  of  the  Swedish  Marines  to  com- 
mand an  armed  brig  that  was  to  patrol  Lake  Winni- 
peg and  prevent  the  Nor'Westers  entering  Assini- 
boia. 

Robertson  sent  Clarke  with  the  French  voyageurs 
on  to  Athabasca.  Clarke  departed  boasting  he  would 
send  every  *'Nor'Wester  out  a  prisoner  to  the  bay." 

153 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Robertson  led  the  colonists  back  to  the  settlement. 
When  Duncan  Cameron  came  triumphantly  from 
the  Nor' Westers'  annual  meeting,  he  was  surprised 
to  find  the  colony  arisen  from  the  ashes  of  its  ruin 
stronger  than  ever.  The  first  thing  Robertson  did 
was  to  recapture  the  arms  of  the  settlement.  On 
October  15th,  as  Cameron  was  riding  home  after  dark 
he  felt  the  bridle  of  his  horse  suddenly  seized,  and 
peered  forward  to  find  himself  gazing  along  the  steel 
barrel  of  a  pistol.  A  moment  later,  Hudson's  Bay 
men  had  jerked  him  from  his  horse.  He  was  beaten 
and  dragged  a  prisoner  before  Robertson,  who  coolly 
told  him  he  was  to  be  held  as  hostage  till  all  the  can- 
non of  the  colonists  were  restored.  Twelve  Nor'- 
Westers  at  once  restored  cannon  and  muskets  to 
Fort  Douglas,  and  Cameron  was  allowed  to  go  on 
parole,  breathing  fire  and  vengeance  till  Governor 
Semple  came. 

Semple  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  colonists  and 
some  one  hundred  Hudson's  Bay  men  arrived  at 
Kildonan  on  November  3rd.  Robertson  was  deeply 
disappointed  in  the  new  governor.  A  man  of  iron 
hand  and  relentless  action  was  needed.  Semple  was 
gentle,  scholarly,  courteous,  temporizing — a  man  of 
peace,  not  war.  He  would  show  them,  he  fore- 
warned Nor'Westers,  whether  Selkirk  could  enforce 
his  rights.    Forewarned  is  forearmed.    The  Nor'- 

154 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Westers  rallied  their  Plain  Rangers  to  the  Assini- 
boine  and  Red  River.  "Beware,"  "look  out  for 
yourselves,"  the  friendly  Indians  daily  warned. 
"Listen,  white  men!  The  Nor' Westers  are  arming 
the  Bois  Bruits!"  To  these  admonitions  Semple's 
answer  was  formal  notice  that  if  the  Nor'Westers 
harmed  the  colonists  "the  consequences  would  be 
terrible  to  themselves;  a  shock  that  would  be  heard 
from  Montreal  to  Athabasca."  Robertson  raged  in- 
wardly. Well  he  knew  from  long  service  with  the 
Nor'Westers  that  such  pen  and  ink  drivel  was  not 
the  kind  of  warfare  to  appall  those  fighters. 

Across  the  river  in  what  is  now  St.  Boniface,  there 
lived  in  a  little  sod-thatched  hut,  J.  Ba'tiste  Laji- 
moniere  and  his  wife,  Marie  Gaboury.  Robertson 
sent  for  Ba'tiste.  Would  the  voyageur  act  as  scout? 
"But  Marie,"  interjects  Ba'tiste.  "Oh,  that's  all 
right,"  Robertson  assures  him.  "Marie  and  the 
children  will  be  given  a  house  inside  Fort  Douglas." 
^^Bon!  Ba'tiste  will  go.  Where  is  it?  And  what 
is  it?"  "It  is  to  carry  secret  letters  to  Lord  Selkirk 
in  Montreal.  Selkirk  will  have  heard  that  the 
colony  was  scattered.  He  must  be  told  that  the 
people  have  been  gathered  back.  Above  all,  he 
must  be  told  of  these  terrible  threats  about  the  Plain 
Rangers  arming  for  next  year.  "But  pause,  Ba'- 
tiste!   It  is  now  November.    It  is  twenty-eight  hun- 

155 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

dred  miles  to  Montreal  by  the  trail  you  must  follow, 
for  you  must  not  go  by  the  Nor'Westers  trail.  They 
will  lie  in  wait  to  assassinate  you  all  the  way  from 
Red  River  to  St.  Lawrence.  You  must  go  south 
through  Minnesota  to  the  Sault;  then  south  along 
the  American  shore  of  Lake  Huron  to  Detroit,  and 
from  Detroit  to  Montreal." 

Ba'tiste  thinks  twice.  Of  all  his  wild  hunts,  this 
is  the  wildest,  for  he  is  to  be  the  hunted,  not  the 
hunter.  But  leaving  Marie  and  the  children  in  the 
fort,  he  sets  out.  At  Pembina,  two  of  his  old  hunter 
friends — Belland  and  Parisien — accompany  him  in  a 
cart,  but  at  Red  Lake  there  is  such  a  heavy  fall  of 
snow,  the  horse  is  only  a  hindrance.  Taking  only 
blankets,  provisions  on  their  backs,  guns  and  hatchets, 
Ba'tiste  and  his  friends  pushed  forward  on  foot  with 
an  Indian  called  Monkman.  They  keep  their  course 
by  following  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior — doubly 
careful  now,  for  they  are  nearing  Fort  William. 
Provisions  run  out.  One  of  the  friends  slips  through 
the  woods  to  l)uy  food  at  the  fort,  but  he  cannot 
get  it  without  explaining  where  he  is  going.  As 
they  hide  near  the  fort,  a  dog  comes  out.  Good! 
Ba'tiste  makes  short  work  of  that  dog;  and  they 
hurry  forward  with  a  supply  of  fresh  meat,  shortening 
the  way  by  cutting  across  the  ice  of  the  lake.  But 
this  is  dangerous  traveling.     Once  the  ice  began  to 

156 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


heave  under  their  feet  and  a  broad  crevice  of  water 
opened  to  the  fore. 

"Back!"  called  Lajimoniere;  but  when  they 
turned  they  found  that  the  ice  had  broken  afloat 
from  the  shore. 

"  Jump,  or  we  are  lost,"  yelled  the  scout  clearing 
the  breach  in  a  desperate  leap.  Belland  followed 
and  alighted  safely,  but  Parisien  and  Monkman  lost 
their  nerve  and  plunged  in  ice-cold  water.  Laji- 
moniere rescued  them  both,  and  they  pressed  on. 
For  six  days  they  marched,  with  no  food  but  rock 
moss — tripe  de  roche — boiled  in  water.  At  length 
they  could  travel  no  farther.  The  Indian's  famine- 
pinched  face  struck  fear  to  their  hearts  that  he  might 
slay  them  at  night  for  food,  and  giving  him  money, 
they  bade  him  find  his  way  to  an  Indian  camp.  To 
their  delight,  he  soon  returned  with  a  supply  of 
frozen  fish.  This  lasted  them  to  the  Sault.  From 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Lajimoniere  proceeded  alone  by 
way  of  Detroit  to  Montreal.  Arriving  the  day  be- 
fore Christmas,  he  presented  himself  at  the  door  of 
the  house  where  Selkirk  was  guest.  The  servant 
asked  his  message. 

"Letters  for  Lord  Selkirk." 

"  Give  them  to  me.    I  will  deliver  them." 

"No  Sir!  I  have  come  six  hundred  leagues  to 
deliver  these  letters  into  Selkirk's  hands  and  into 

157 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

no  other  hands  do  they  go.  Go  tell  Lord  Selkirk  a 
voyageiir  from  the  West  is  here." 

Bad  news  were  these  threats  against  the  colonists 
to  my  Lord  Selkirk.  He  told  Lajimoniere  to  rest  in 
Montreal  till  letters  were  ready.  Then  he  appealed 
to  the  governor  of  Quebec,  Sir  Gordon  Drummond, 
for  a  military  detachment  to  protect  Red  River,  but 
Sir  Gordon  Drummond  asked  advice  of  his  Council, 
and  the  McGillivrays  of  the  Northwest  Company 
were  of  his  Council;  and  there  followed  months  of 
red  tape  in  which  Selkirk  could  gain  no  satisfaction. 
Finally  in  March,  1816,  he  received  commission  as 
a  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  Indian  country  and  per- 
mission to  take  for  his  personal  protection  a  military 
escort  to  be  provisioned  and  paid  at  his  own  cost. 
Canada  was  full  of  regiments  disbanded  from  the 
Napoleon  wars  and  181 2.  Selkirk  engaged  two 
hundred  of  the  De  Meuron  and  De  Watteville  regi- 
ments to  accompany  him  to  Red  River.  Then  he 
dispatched  I^ajimoniere  with  word  that  he  was  com- 
ing to  the  colonists'  aid. 

But  the  Nor'Westers  were  on  the  watch  for  La- 
jimoniere this  time.  One  hundred  strong,  they  had 
arranged  their  own  brigade  should  go  west  from 
Fort  William  this  year.  It  was  to  be  a  race  between 
Selkirk  and  the  Nor'Westers.  Lajimoniere  must  be 
intercepted.     ^^Lajimoniere  is  again  to  pass  through 

158 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


your  Department,  on  his  way  to  Red  River, ^^  wrote 
Norman  McLeod  to  the  partners  in  Minnesota. 
"He  must  absolutely  be  prevented.  He  and  the  men 
along  with  him,  and  an  Indian  guide  he  has,  must 
all  be  sent  to  Fort  William.  It  is  a  matter  of  astonish- 
ment  how  he  could  have  made  his  way  last  jail  through  , 
your  Department.^' 

Rewards  of  $ioo,  two  kegs  of  rum  and  two  carrots 
of  tobacco,  were  offered  to  Minnesota  Indians  if 
they  would  catch  Lajimoniere.  They  waylaid  his 
canoe  at  Fond  du  Lac,  beat  him  senseless,  stole  his 
dispatches,  and  carried  him  to  Fort  William  where 
he  was  thrown  in  the  butter  vat  prison  and  told  that 
his  wife  had  already  been  murdered  on  Red  River, 

Out  on  Red  River,  Colin  Robertson  was  doing 
his  best  to  stem  the  tide  of  disaster.  During  the 
winter  of  1815-16,  Semple  was  continuing  the  fatuous 
policy  of  seizing  all  the  supplies  of  Northwest  pem- 
mican,  and  had  gone  on  a  tour  to  the  different  fur 
posts  in  Selkirk's  territory.  For  reasons  that  are 
now  known,  no  word  had  come  from  Selkirk.  Toward 
March  arrived  an  Indian  from  the  upper  Assini- 
boine,  whom  a  Hudson's  Bay  doctor  had  cured  of 
disease,  and  who  now  in  gratitude  revealed  to  Rob- 
ertson that  a  storm  was  gathering  on  both  sides  likely 
to  break  on  the  heads  of  the  colonists.    Alex  Mc- 

159 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Donell  of  the  Assiniboine  was  rallying  the  Bois  Brules 
to  meet  the  spring  brigade  from  Montreal,  and  the 
spring  brigade  was  to  consist  of  nearly  every  partner 
in  the  Northwest  Company,  with  eighty  fighting 
men.  "Look  out  for  yourselves,"  warned  the 
Indian.  ''They  are  after  the  heads  of  the  colony. 
They  are  saying  if  they  catch  Robertson  they  will 
skin  him  ahve  and  feed  him  to  the  dogs  for  attack- 
ing Cameron  last  fall." 

Old  Chief  Peguis  comes  again  and  again  with 
offers  to  defend  the  colonists  by  having  his  tribe 
heave  "the  war  hatchet,"  but  Robertson  has  no 
notion  of  playing  war  with  Indians.  "Beware, 
white  woman,  beware!"  the  old  chief  tells  Marie 
Gaboury.  "If  the  Bois  Brules  fight,  come  you  and 
your  children  to  my  tepee." 

Robertson  did  not  wait  for  the  storm  to  break. 
Taking  half  a  dozen  men  with  him  on  March  13, 
1 8 16,  he  marched  across  to  Fort  Gibraltar  to  seize 
Cameron  as  hostage.  It  was  night.  The  light  of 
a  candle  guided  them  straight  to  the  room  where 
the  Northwest  partner  sat  pen  in  hand  over  a  letter. 
Bursting  into  the  room,  Robertson  who  was  of  a 
large  and  powerful  frame,  caught  Cameron  by  the 
collar.  Two  others  placed  pistols  at  the  Nor'- 
'  Wester' s  head.  There  lay  the  most  damning  evi- 
\dence  beneath  Cameron's  hand — the  letter  asking 

160 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Grant  of  Minnesota  to  rally  the  Pillager  Indians 
against  Fort  Douglas.  Cameron  was  taken  prisoner 
and  when  Semple  returned,  he  was  sent  down  in 
May  to  Hudson's  Bay  to  be  forwarded  to  England 
for  trial.  Ice  jam  in  the  straits  delayed  him  a  whole 
year  at  Moose;  and  when  he  was  taken  to  England, 
Cameron,  the  Nor'Wester,  was  no  more  brought  to 
trial  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  than  Mac- 
Donell,  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  was  brought  to  trial 
by  the  Nor'Westers.  I  confess  at  this  stage  of  the 
game,  I  can  see  very  little  difference  in  the  faults  on 
both  sides.  Both  sides  were  playing  a  desperate, 
ruthless,  utterly  lawless  game.  Both  had  advanced 
too  far  for  retreat.  Even  Selkirk  was  involved  in 
the  meshes  with  his  two  hundred  soldiers  tricked  out 
as  a  bodyguard. 

Semple  and  Robertson  now  quarreled  outright. 
Robertson  was  for  striking  the  blow  before  it  was  too 
late;  Semple  for  temporizing,  waiting  for  word  from 
Selkirk.  Robertson  was  for  calling  all  the  settlers 
inside  the  palisades.  Semple  could  not  believe  there 
was  danger. 

"Then  I  wash  my  hands  of  consequences  and 
leave  this  fort,"  vowed  Robertson. 

"Then  wash  your  hands  and  leave,"  retorted 
Semple,  and  Robertson  followed  Cameron  down  to 
Moose,  to  be  ice-bound  for  nearly  a  year.    Semple 

i6i 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northivest 

continued  his  mad  policy  of  enforcing  English  poach- 
ing laws  on  Red  River.  Gibraltar  was  dismantled 
and  the  timber  rafted  down  to  Fort  Douglas. 

Up  in  the  North,  Robertson's  Athabasca  brigade, 
under  fighting  John  Clarke,  had  come  to  dire  dis- 
aster. Clarke  felt  so  cock-sure  that  his  big  brigade 
could  humble  the  Nor'Westers  into  suing  for  union 
with  the  Hudson's  Bay  that  he  had  galloped  his 
canoes  up  the  Saskatchewan,  never  pausing  to  gather 
store  of  pemmican  meat.  A  third  of  the  men  were 
stationed  at  Athabasca  Lake,  a  third  sent  down  the 
MacKenzie  to  Slave  Lake,  a  third,  Clarke,  himself, 
led  up  the  Peace  to  the  mountains.  On  the  way, 
the  inevitable  happened.  Clarke  ran  out  of  pro- 
visions and  set  himself  to  obtain  them  by  storming 
the  Nor'Wester,  Mcintosh,  at  Fort  Vermilion.  Mc- 
intosh let  loose  his  famous  Northwest  bullies,  who 
beat  Clarke  off  and  chased  him  down  the  Peace  to 
Athabasca.  Archibald  MacGillivray  and  Black 
were  the  partners  at  Chippewyan,  and  many  a  trick 
they  played  to  outwit  Clarke  during  the  long  winters 
of  1815-16.  Far  or  near,  not  an  Indian  could  Clarke 
find  to  barter  furs  or  provisions.  The  natives  had 
been  frightened  and  bribed  to  keep  away.  Once, 
the  coureur  brought  word  that  a  northern  tribe  was 
coming  down  with  furs.  The  Nor'Westers  gave  a 
grand  ball  to  their  rivals  of  the  Hudson's  Bay,  but 

162 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


at  midnight  when  revels  were  at  their  height,  a 
Northwest  dog  train  without  any  bells  to  sound 
alarm,  sped  silently  over  the  snow.  The  Indian 
hunters  were  met  and  the  furs  obtained  before  the 
Hudson's  Bay  had  left  the  dance.  Another  night, 
a  party  of  Hudson's  Bay  men  had  gone  out  to  meet 
Indians  approaching  with  provisions.  Suddenly, 
Nor'Westers  appeared  at  the  night  campfire  with 
whiskey.  The  Hudson's  Bay  men  were  deluded 
into  taking  whiskey  enough  to  disable  them.  Then 
they  were  strapped  in  their  own  sleighs  and  the  dogs 
headed  home. 

Clarke  was  almost  at  the  end  of  his  tether  when 
the  Nor'Westers  invited  him  to  a  dinner.  When  he 
rose  to  go  home,  MacGillivray  and  Black  slapped 
him  on  the  shoulder  and  calmly  told  him  he  was  their 
prisoner.  As  for  his  men,  eighteen  died  outright  of 
starvation.  Others  were  forced  at  bayonet  point  or 
flogged  into  joining  the  Nor'Westers.  Many  scat- 
tered to  the  wilderness  and  never  returned.  Of  the 
two  hundred  Hudson's  Bay  voyageurs  who  had  gone 
so  gloriously  to  capture  Athabasca,  only  a  pitiable 
remnant  found  their  way  down  to  the  Saskatchewan 
and  Lake  Winnipeg.  Clarke  obtains  not  one  pack  of 
furs.    The  Nor'Westers  send  out  four  hundred. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXV 11. —The  data  for  this  chapter  have 
been  drawn  from  the  same  sources  as  the  preceding  chapter. 


163 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


In  addition,  I  took  the  cardinal  facts  from  two  other  sources 
hitherto  untold;  (i)  from  Colin  Robertson's  confidential  letters 
to  Selkirk;  (2)  from  Coltman's  report  to  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment and  Sherbooke's  confidential  report  to  the  British  Gov- 
ernment— all  in  manuscript.  In  addition  there  are  the  printed 
Government  Reports  (including  Coltman's)  and  Trials  and 
Archives,  but  I  find  in  these  public  reports  much  has  been  sup- 
pressed, which  the  confidential  records  reveal.  I  am  again  in- 
debted to  Abb6  Dugas  for  the  legend  of  Lajimoniere's  trip  East. 
Events  thicken  so  fast  at  this  stage-^^^he  H.  B.  C.  and  N.  W.  C. 
fight,  space  does  not  permit  record  of  all  the  bloody  affrays, 
such  for  instance  as  the  killing  of  Slater,  the  H.  B.  C.  man,  at 
Abbittibbi,  the  death  of  Johnstone  at  Isle  a  la  Crosse,  or  the 
violence  there  when  Peter  Skene  Ogden  drove  the  Indians  from 
the  H.  B.  C. 

The  name  of  the  armed  schooner,  which  was  to  patrol  Lake 
Winnipeg  to  drive  the  Nor'  Westers  off,  Coltman  gives  as  Cathul- 
lin,  and  a  personal  letter  of  Lieut.  Holte  (H.  B.  C.)  declares  that 
he  was  to  be  commander. 

MacDonell's  proclamations  seem  to  have  been  feudalism  run 
mad.  In  July  of  18 14,  he  actually  forbade  natives  to  bark 
trees  for  canoes  and  wigwams,  or  to  cut  large  wood  for  camp 
fires.  Then  followed  his  notices  ordering  the  N.  W.  C.  to  move 
their  forts. 

Howse,  the  explorer,  was  at  this  time  in  charge  of  Isle  a  la 
Crosse. 

The  H.  B.  C.  colonists,  who  sided  with  Cameron  and  carried 
across  to  the  N.  W.  C.  the  four  brass  cannon,  four  swivels,  one 
howitzer — were  George  Bannerman,  Angus  Gunn,  Hugh  Ban- 
nerman,  Donald  McKinnon,  Donald  McDonald,  George  Camp- 
bell. Robert  Gunn,  John  Cooper,  Angus  McKay,  Andrew  Mc- 
Beth  and  John  Matheson  opposed  giving  the  arms  to  Cameron 
and  were  loyal  to  Selkirk. 

Peter  Fidler's  Journal  (manuscript)  gives  details  of  18 15  at 
Fort  Douglas. 

When  the  colony  was  dispersed  in  June,  181 5,  it  consisted  of 
thirteen  men  and  their  families — forty  persons.  The  N.  W.  C. 
took  no  part  in  the  flight  of  the  colonists  to  Lake  Winnipeg.  It 
was  the  Half-breeds  who  ordered  them  to  leave  Red  River. 

The  Colony  Buildings  burnt  were  four  houses  grouped  as  the 
fort,  five  farm  houses,  barns,  stables,  a  mill  and  eighteen  set- 
tlers' cabins.  This  was  not  done  by  order  of  the  N.  W.  C.  but 
by  the  Plains  Rangers. 


164 


The  Coming  oj  the  Colonists 


It  appeared  in  N.  W.  C.  records  that  as  high  as  £ioo  was 
paid  some  of  the  colonists  to  desert  Red  River. 

Selkirk's  letter- to  Robertson,  which  the  N.  W.  C.  captured 
from  Lajimoniere,  ran  thus:  "There  can  be  no  doubt  thai  the 
N.  W.  C.  must  be  compelled  to  quit  .  .  .  my  lands  .  .  . 
especially  at  the  Forks  .  .  .  but  as  it  will  be  necessary  to 
use  force,  I  am  anxious  this  should  be  done  under  legal  warrant." 
I  cannot  see  much  difference  between  Selkirk  bringing  up  De 
Meurons  to  drive  the  N.  W.  C.  off,  and  Cameron  calling  on  the 
Indians  to  drive  the  H.  B.  C.  off. 

May  1 8th,  Cameron  was  sent  to  the  bay.  June  i  ith,  Robertson 
quarreled  with  Semple  and  followed.  June  loth,  Semple  had 
ordered  the  dismantling  of  Gibraltar,  which  was  completed 
after  Robertson  left. 

Letters  from  Mcintosh  of  Peace  River  give  details  of  Clarke's 
disaster  in  Athabasca,  describing  his  men  "as  starving  like 
church  rats  and  so  reduced  they  were  not  able  to  stand  on  their 
feet,  and  were  a  picture  of  the  resurrection." 

Some  authorities,  like  McDonald  of  Garth,  give  the  number  of 
Voyageurs  sent  to  Athabasca  by  Robertson  as  four  hundred. 
I  follow  Robertson's  MS.  account. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  one  of  the  first  settlers  to  desert  Red 
River  for  Ontario  was  that  Angus  McKay,  whose  child  was 
born  on  the  sled  journey  to  York. 


i6s 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

1816-1820 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  COLONISTS  CONTINUED — GOV- 
ERNOR SEMPLE  AND  TWENTY  COLONISTS  ARE 
BUTCHERED  AT  SEVEN  OAKS — SELKIRK  TO  THE 
RESCUE  CAPTURES  FORT  ^VILLIAM  AND  SWEEPS 
THE  NOR'WESTERS  FROM  THE  FIELD^THE  SUF- 
FERING OF  THE  SETTLERS — AT  LAST  SELKIRK 
SEES  THE  PROMISED  LAND  AT  RED  RIVER. 

HERE,  then,  is  the  position,  June  17,  18 16. 
My  Lord  Selkirk  is  racing  westward 
from  Montreal  to  the  rescue  of  his  Red 
River  colonists  with  two  hundred  men  made  up  of 
disbanded  De  Meuron  and  De  Watteville  soldiers  and 
French  canoemen. 

William  McGillivray  has  gathered  all  the  Eastern 
partners  of  the  Northwest  Company  together — ]\Ic- 
Loughlin,  the  doctor;  Simon  Eraser,  the  explorer; 
McLeod,  the  justice  of  the  Peace;  Haldane,  Mc- 
Lellan,  McGillis,  Keith  and  the  rest — and  with  a 
hundred  armed  men  and  two  cannon,  is  dashing  for 
Red  River  to  outrace  Selkirk,  rescue  Duncan  Cam- 
eron, restore  Fort  Gibraltar,  and  prevent  the  forcible 
eviction  of  the  Northwest  Company  from  Assiniboia. 

166 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Selkirk  goes  by  way  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the 
modem  Simcoe.  The  Nor'Westers  follow  the  old 
trail  up  the  Ottawa. 

In  the  West,  blacker  gathers  the  storm.  Deprived 
of  their  pemmican  by  Semple's  raids,  the  Nor'- 
Westers rally  their  Plain  Rangers  under  Cuthbert 
Grant  to  Alexander  McDonell  of  Qu'  Appelle,  de- 
termined to  sweep  down  the  Assiniboine  and  meet 
the  up-coming  express  from  Montreal  at  all  hazards. 
This  will  prevent  Semple  capturing  those  provisions, 
too.  Incidentally,  the  Plain  Rangers  intended  to 
rescue  Cameron  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  men.  They 
do  not  know  he  has  been  sent  to  the  bay.  Incident- 
ally, too,  they  intend  "to  catch  Robertson  and  skin 
him  and  feed  him  to  the  dogs.^^  They  do  not  know 
that  he,  too,  has  gone  off  in  a  huff  to  the  bay.  Gibral- 
tar is  to  be  restored.  They  do  not  know  that  it  has 
been  dismantled.  Then,  when  the  Nor'West  part- 
ners come  from  the  East,  the  Hudson's  Bay  people 
are  to  be  given  a  taste  of  their  own  medicine.  No 
attack  is  planned.  The  Plain  Rangers  are  to  keep 
away  from  Fort  Douglas;  but  the  English  company 
is  to  be  starved  out,  and  if  there  is  resistance — then, 
in  the  language  of  Alex  McDonell,  mad  with  the  lust 
of  revenge  for  the  death  of  Eneas — ^^the  ground  is  to 
be  drencJied  with  the  blood  oj  the  colmnsts." 

In  Fort  Douglas  sits  Robert  Semple,  Governor  of 
167 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  Colony,  his  cannon  pointed  across  Red  River  to 
stop  all  trespassers  on  Selkirk's  domain. 

One  other  chessman  there  is  in  the  desperate  game. 
Miles  MacDonell,  the  captured  governor  of  Red 
River,  has  been  released  at  Montreal  and  is  speed- 
ing westward  in  a  light  canoe  with  good  cheer  to  the 
colonists — word  of  Selkirk's  coming. 

Red  River  is  the  storm  center.  Toward  it  con- 
verge three  different  currents  of  violence:  the  Plain 
Rangers  from  the  West;  Selkirk's  soldiers,  and  the 
Nor'Westers'  men  from  the  East.  What  is  it  all 
about?  Just  this — shall  or  shall  not  the  feudal  sys- 
tem prevail  in  the  Great  Northwest?  Little  cared 
the  contestants  about  the  feudal  system.  They  were 
fighting  for  profits  in  terms  of  coin.  They  were 
pawns  on  the  chess  board  of  Destiny. 

Comes  once  more  warning  to  the  blinded  Semple, 
secure  in  his  beliefs  as  if  entrenched  in  the  castle  of 
a  feudal  baron.  A  chance  hunter  paddles  down  the 
Assiniboine  to  Red  River.  "My  governor!  My 
governor!"  the  rough  fellow  pleads.  "Are  you  not 
afraid?  The  Half-breeds  are  gathering!  They  are 
advancing!     They  will  kill  you!" 

"Tush,  my  good  man,"  laughs  Semple,  "I'll  show 
them  papers  proving  that  we  own  the  country." 

"Own   the   countrj^?    What    does   that   mean?" 

1 68 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


The  freeman  shakes  his  head.  No  man  owns  these 
boundless  plains. 

Comes  again  Moustache  Batino,  whom  Doctor 
White  had  healed  of  a  wound. 

"A  hundred  and  fifty  Bois  Brules  (Burnt  Wood 
Runners)  are  at  the  Portage  of  the  Prairie!  They 
will  be  here  by  to-morrow  night." 

"Well,  what  of  it?  Let  'em  come,"  smiles 
Semple. 

The  Indian  ruminates — Is  this  Englishman  mad? 

"Mad!  Nonsense,"  says  Semple  to  his  secretary, 
Wilkinson.  "They  will  never  be  such  fools  as  to 
break  the  law  when  they  know  we  have  right  on  our 
side." 

But  old  Chief  Peguis  of  the  Sauteurs  knows  noth- 
ing at  all  about  that  word  "  law."  June  i8th,  at  night 
when  the  late  sunset  is  dyeing  the  Western  prairies 
blood  red,  Peguis  knocks  at  the  fort  gates. 

"Governor  of  the  gard'ners  and  land  workers," 
he  declares,  "listen  to  me — listen  to  me,  white  man! 
Let  me  bring  my  warriors  to  protect  you !  The  Half- 
breeds  will  be  here  to-morrow  night.  Have  your 
colonists  sleep  inside  the  fort." 

Semple  grows  impatient.  "Chief,"  he  declares, 
"mark  my  words!  There  is  not  going  to  be  any 
fighting." 

All  the  same  Peguis  goes  to  Marie  Gaboury, 

169 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Lajimoniere's  wife.  "White  woman,"  he  com- 
mands, "come  you  across  the  river  to  my  tepee! 
Blood  is  to  be  shed." 

And  Marie  Gaboury,  who  has  learned  to  love  the 
Indians  as  she  formerly  feared  them,  follows  Chief 
Peguisdown  the  river  bank  with  her  brood  of  children, 
like  so  many  chickens. 

Such  is  her  fright  as  she  ensconces  the  children  in 
the  chief's  canoe,  that  she  faints  and  falls  backward, 
upsetting  the  boatload,  which  Peguis  rescues  like  so 
many  drowned  ducklings,  but  Lajimoniere's  family 
hides  in  the  Pagan  tent  while  the  storm  breaks. 

On  the  evening  of  June  19th,  the  boy  on  watch  in 
the  gate  tower  calls  out,  "the  Half-breeds  are  com- 
ing." Semple  goes  up  to  the  watchtower  with  a 
spyglass.  So  do  Heden,  the  blacksmith;  and  Wil- 
kinson, the  secretary;  and  White,  the  doctor;  and 
Holte,  the  young  lieutenant  of  the  Swedish  Mar- 
ines; and  John  Pritchard,  who  has  left  the  Nor'- 
Westers  and  joined  the  colony;  and  Bourke,  the 
storekeeper. 

"Those  certainly  are  Half-breeds,"  says  Pritchard, 
pointing  to  a  line  of  seventy  or  a  hundred  horsemen 
coming  from  the  west  across  the  swamps  of  Frog 
Plain  beyond  Fort  Douglas  toward  the  colony. 

"Let  twenty  men  instantly  follow  me,"  commands 

170 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Semple.  "We'll  go  out  and  see  what  those  people 
want." 

Bayonets,  pistols,  swords  are  picked  up  in  con- 
fusion, and  out  sallies  a  little  band  of  twenty-seven 
men  on  foot. 

The  Half-breeds  are  not  approaching  Fort  Doug- 
las. They  are  advancing  toward  the  colony.  Half 
a  mile  out,  Semple  meets  the  colonists  rushing  for 
the  fort  in  a  wild  panic.  Alex  McBeth,  a  colonist 
who  had  been  a  soldier,  calls  out,  "Keep  your  back 
to  the  river,  Governor!  They  are  painted!  Don't 
let  them  surround  you." 

"  There  is  no  occasion  for  alarm !  I  am  only  going 
to  speak  to  them,"  answers  Semple,  marching  on, 
knee-deep  through  the  hay  fields.  All  the  same,  he 
sends  a  boy  back  with  word  for  Bourke,  the  store- 
keeper, and  McLean,  the  farmer,  to  hitch  horses  and 
drag  out  the  cannon.  As  the  Half-breeds  approach 
Semple  sees  for  himself  they  are  daubed  in  war  paint 
and  galloping  forward  in  a  semi-circle.  Young 
Holte  of  the  Marines  becomes  so  flustered  that  he 
lets  his  gun  ofif  by  mistake,  which  gives  the  Governor 
a  start. 

"Mind  yourself,"  Semple  orders.  "I  want  no 
firing  at  all." 

"  My  God,  Governor!  We  are  all  lost  men,"  mut- 
ters Hcden,  the  blacksmith ;  and  Kilkenny,  a  fighting 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Irishman,  begs,  "Give  me  leave.  Governor!  Let  me 
shoot;  or  we  shall  all  be  shot.  There's  Grant,  the 
leader.    Let  me  pick  off  Grant!" 

"No  firing,  I  tell  you,"  orders  Semple  angrily,  and 
the  two  parties  come  in  violent  collision  on  a  little 
knoll  of  wooded  ground  called  Seven  Oaks. 

With  Grant  are  our  old  friends  of  the  Saskatche- 
wan— Falfon,  the  rhyming  poet;  and  Boucher,  son 
of  the  scout  shot  on  the  South  Saskatchewan;  and 
Louis  Primo,  old  reprobate  who  had  deserted  Cock- 
ing fifty  years  ago;  and  two  of  Marguerite  Trot- 
tier's  brothers  from  Pembina;  and  a  blackguard 
family  of  Deschamps  from  the  Missouri;  and  seventy 
other  Plain  Rangers  from  the  West. 

Followed  by  a  bloodthirsty  crew  hard  to  hold, 
Cuthbert  Grant  was  appalled  to  see  Semple  march 
out  courting  disaster. 

"Go  tell  those  people  to  ground  their  arms  and 
surrender,"  he  ordered  Boucher. 

"What  do  you  want?"  demanded  Semple  as 
Boucher  galloped  up. 

"Our  fort,"  yelled  Boucher  forgetting  his  mes- 
sage. 

"Then  go  to  your  fort!"  vehemently  ordered 
Semple. 

"Rascal!  You  have  destroyed  our  fort,"  roared 
the  angry  Half-breed. 

172 


The  Coming  oj  the  Colonists 


"Dare  you  address  me  so?"  retorted  Semple, 
seizing  the  scout's  gun.     " Men — take  him  prisoner!" 

"Have  a  care  you  do  me  no  ill,"  shouted  Boucher 
slipping  off  the  other  side  of  his  horse,  prancing 
back. 

"Take  him  prisoner — I  say!  Is  this  a  time  to  be 
afraid?"  shouts  Semple. 

"My  God !  We  are  all  dead  men,"  groans  Suther- 
land, the  Scotch  colonist,  for  the  dread  war  whoop 
had  rent  the  air.  There  was  a  blaze  of  musketry, 
and  there  reeled  back  with  his  arms  thrown  up — 
young  Holte,  the  officer  who  had  boasted  that  with 
the  Lake  Winnipeg  schooner  "he  would  give  the 
Northwest  scoundrels  a  drubbing."  Another  crash, 
and  Semple  is  down  with  a  broken  thigh.  Cuthbert 
Grant  dismounts  and  rushes  to  stop  the  massacre. 
"I  am  not  mortally  wounded!  Take  me  to  the 
fort,"  gasps  Semple.  Grant  turns  to  call  aid.  The 
Deschamps  stab  the  Governor  to  death  on  the  spot. 
The  firing  lasts  less  than  fifteen  minutes,  but  twenty 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  men  have  fallen,  including  all 
the  officers,  four  colonists,  fifteen  servants.  Captain 
Rodgers  is  advancing  to  surrender  when  he  is  hacked 
down.  Of  the  twenty-seven  who  followed  out, 
Pritchard,  the  former  Nor' Wester,  is  saved  by  sur- 
render; and  five  men  escape  by  swimming  across 
the  river.    As  for  the  cannon,  Bourke  is  trundling 

U3 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

it  back  as  fast  as  the  horses  can  gallop.  McLean, 
the  settler,  has  been  slain.  One,  only,  of  the  Plain 
Rangers,  Batoche,  has  been  killed ;  only  one  wounded 
— Trottier  of  Pembina;  and  Cuthbert  Grant  at  last 
succeeds  in  stopping  the  infuriated  rabble's  advance 
and  drawing  off  to  camp  west  of  Seven  Oaks. 

No  need  to  describe  the  blackness  of  the  work 
that  night  on  the  prairie.  The  Half-breeds  wreaked 
their  pent-up  vengeance  on  the  bodies  of  the  slain. 
Let  it  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  Nor'Westers,  they 
had  no  part  in  this  ghoulish  work.  The  worst  mis- 
creants were  the  Deschamps  of  the  Missouri,  whose 
blood-stained  hands  no  decent  Indian  would  ever 
touch  after  that  night.  In  camp,  Pierre  Falcon,  the 
rhymster,  was  chanting  the  glories  of  the  victory,  and 
Pritchard  was  pleading  with  Grant  for  the  lives  of 
the  women  and  children.  For  years  afterward — 
yes,  even  to  this  day — terrible  stories  were  told  of  the 
threats  against  the  families  of  the  colonists;  but  let 
it  be  stated  there  was  never  at  any  time  the  shadow 
of  a  vestige  of  a  wrong  contemplated  against  the 
women  and  children.  What  Indians  might  do,  old 
Chief  Peguis  had  shown.  What  the  Deschamps, 
who  were  half-white  men,  might  do — the  mutilated 
bodies  of  the  dead  at  Seven  Oaks  revealed. 

Pritchard  was  sent  across  to  the  fort  with  word 
that  the  colonists  must  save  themselves  by  surrender. 

174 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Otherwise,  Grant  could  not  answer  for  their  safety 
among  his  wild  Plain  Rangers.  The  panic  of  the 
two  hundred  people  inside  was  pitiable.  For  a 
second  time  they  were  to  be  driven  houseless  to  the 
wilderness,  and  yet  the  bolder  spirits  were  for  man- 
ning the  fort  and  resisting  siege.  If  only  they  could 
have  known  that  Selkirk  was  coming ;  but  Laji- 
moniere  lay  captive  in  the  butter-vat  prison  at  Fort 
William,  and  Miles  MacDonell  had  not  yet  come. 
Without  help,  how  could  two  hundred  people  sub- 
sist inside  the  palisades?  A  white  sheet  was  tied  on 
the  end  of  a  pole,  and  the  colonists  marched  out  on 
June  22nd,  at  eight  in  the  morning,  Grant  standing 
guard  to  protect  them  as  they  embarked  in  eight 
boats  for  Lake  Winnipeg.  Before  abandoning  Fort 
Douglas,  Angus  Matheson  and  old  Chief  Peguis 
gather  a  few  of  the  dead  and  bury  them  in  a  dry 
coulee  near  the  site  of  the  old  Cree  graveyard  at  the 
south  end  of  modern  Winnipeg's  Main  Street.  Other 
bodies  are  buried  as  they  lie  at  Seven  Oaks;  but  the 
graves  are  so  shallow  they  are  ripped  open  by  the 
wolves.  Grant  rides  along  the  river  bank  to  protect 
the  colonists  from  marauders  till  they  have  passed 
the  Rapids  of  St.  Andrew's  and  are  well  beyond 
modern  Selkirk. 

Beyond  Selkirk,  at  the  famous  camping  place  of 
Nettley  Creek,  whom  should  the  colonists  meet  but 

175 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  Nor'West  partners  galloping  their  canoes  at  race- 
horse pace  to  reach  the  field  of  action  before  Sel- 
kirk. 

"What  news?"  calls  Norman  McLeod;  but  the 
news  is  plain  enough  in  the  eight  boat  loads  of  de- 
jected colonists. 

The  Nor' Westers  utter  a  war  whoop,  beat  the 
gun' els  of  their  canoes,  shout  their  victory.  "  Thank 
Providence, ^^  writes  one  partner,  Robert  Henry, 
^Hhat  the  battle  was  over  before  we  got  there,  as  it  was 
our  intention  to  storm  the  fort.  Our  party  consisted 
of  one  hundred  men,  seventy  firearms,  two  field  pieces. 
What  our  success  might  have  been,  I  will  not  pretend 
to  say;  but  many  of  us  must  have  fallen  in  the  con- 
test." The  Nor'Westers  have  always  maintained 
that  they  had  not  planned  to  attack  Fort  Douglas 
and  that  the  onus  of  blame  for  the  fearful  guilt  of 
Seven  Oaks  Massacre  rested  on  Semple  for  coming 
out  to  oppose  the  Half-breeds,  who  were  going  to 
meet  the  Montreal  express.  Such  excuse  might  do 
for  Eastern  law  courts,  whose  aim  was  to  suppress 
more  than  they  revealed ;  but  the  facts  do  not  sustain 
such  an  excuse.  The  events  are  now  a  century  past. 
Let  us  face  them  without  subterfuge.  The  time  had 
come,  the  time  was  bound  to  come,  when  the  rights 
of  a  Feudal  Charter  would  conflict  violently  with  the 
strong  though  lawless  arm  of  Young  Democracy. 

176 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


Therein  lies  the  significance  of  what  apologists  and 
partisans  have  called  the  Skirmish  of  Seven  Oaks. 

Norman  McLeod,  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  hails 
the  harried  colonists  ashore  at  Nettley  Creek.  They 
notice  among  the  Northwest  partners  several  soldiers 
dressed  in  regimentals — mark  that,  those  who  con- 
demn Selkirk  for  hiring  De  Meuron  soldiers!  Two 
can  play  at  the  game  of  putting  soldiers  in  red  coats 
to  bluff  the  Indians  into  believing  the  government  is 
behind  the  trader.  The  settlers  notice  also,  care- 
fully hidden  under  oilcloth,  two  or  three  brass  cannon 
in  the  Nor'Westers'  boats.  Mark  that,  those  who 
condemn  Selkirk  for  bringing  cannon  along  with  his 
bodyguard ! 

As  justice  of  the  peace,  Norman  McLeod  seizes 
the  dead  Semple's  baggage  for  incriminating  papers. 
As  justice  of  the  peace — though  it  was  queer  kind  of 
peace — he  arrests  those  men  who  escaped  from 
Seven  Oaks,  and  claps  them  in  irons  that  prevent 
Bourke,  the  storekeeper,  from  dressing  his  wounds. 
The  colonists  are  then  allowed  to  proceed  to  their 
wintering  ground  amid  the  desolate  woods  of  Lake 
Winnipeg  at  Jack  River. 

The  triumphant  Nor'Westers  do  not  wait  long  at 
Red  River.  McLeod  goes  on  to  rule  like  a  despot 
in  Athabasca.  The  others  hurry  back  to  their  annual 
meeting  at  Fort  William,  for  they  know  that  Selkirk 

177 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

is  coming  West.  Bourke  and  the  prisoners  are 
carried  along  to  be  thrown  into  the  butter-vat  prison. 
Dark  are  the  plots  the  prisoners  overhear  as  they 
journey  up  Winnipeg  River  and  Rainy  Lake  down  to 
Lake  Superior.  Alex  INIcDonell  of  the  Assiniboine, 
burning  for  revenge  as  usual,  urges  the  partners 
to  make  ^^his  Lordship  pay  dearly  for  his  conduct 
coming  west;  for  I  will  say  no  more  on  paper — but 
there — are  fine  quiet  places  along  Winnipeg  River, 
if  he  comes  this  way!^^  And  one  night  in  camp  on 
Rainy  Lake,  Bourke,  the  prisoner,  lying  in  the  dark, 
hears  the  Nor'West  partners  discussing  affairs.  Sel- 
kirk's name  comes  up.  Says  Alex  McDonell,  "  The 
Half-breeds  could  easily  capture  him  while  he  is 
asleep  J  ^  Bourke  does  not  hear  the  other's  answer; 
but  McDonell  rejoins,  "  They  could  have  the  Indians 
shoot  him^  Were  they  planning  to  assassinate  Sel- 
kirk coming  West?  Who  knows?  Alex  McDonell 
was  ever  more  violent  than  the  rest.  As  for  Selkirk, 
when  word  of  this  conversation  came  to  him,  he  took 
care  neither  to  come  nor  go  by  Winnipeg  River. 

In  passing  back  from  Red  River  across  Winnipeg 
Lake,  the  Nor'Westers  pause  to  destroy  that  armed 
Hudson's  Bay  schooner,  which  was  "to  sweep  North- 
west canoes"  from  the  lake.  Down  at  Fort  William, 
the  Hudson's  Bay  prisoners  are  flung  into  the  prison 

178 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


along  with  the  captured  scout,  Lajimoniere.  "Things 
have  gone  too  far;  but  we  can  throw  the  blame  on 
the  Indians,"  says  William  McGillivray. 

"But  there  was  not  an  Indian  took  part  in  the 
massacre,"  retorts  Dr.  John  McLoughlin,  always 
fair  to  the  native  races,  for  he  has  married  the  Indian 
widow  of  that  Alex  McKay  of  MacKenzie's  voyages 
and  Astor's  massacred  crew. 

In  the  despatches  which  were  stolen  from  Laji- 
moniere, Selkirk  had  written  to  Colin  Robertson 
that  he  was  coming  to  Red  River  by  way  of  Minne- 
sota to  avoid  clashes  with  the  Nor'Westers  at  Fort 
William.  By  July  he  had  passed  from  Lake  Simcoe 
across  Georgian  Bay  to  the  Sault.  Barely  had  he 
portaged  the  Sault  to  Lake  Superior  when  he  meets 
Miles  MacDonell,  his  special  messenger,  galloping 
back  from  Red  River  in  a  narrow  canoe  with  word 
of  the  massacre. 

What  to  do  now?  Selkirk  could  go  on  to  Red 
River  by  way  of  Minnesota;  but  his  colonists  are  no 
longer  there.  At  the  Sault  are  two  magistrates  of 
the  Indian  country — Mr.  Askin  and  Mr.  Ermatinger. 
Lord  Selkirk  swears  out  information  before  them 
and  appeals  to  them  to  come  with  him  and  arrest  the 
Northwest  partners  at  Fort  William.  They  refuse 
point-blank.    They  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  this 

179 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

quarrel  between  the  two  great  fur  companies — this 
quarrel  that  really  hinges  on  feudalism  versus  de- 
mocracy; English  law  as  against  Canadian.  To 
obtain  justice  in  Eastern  Canada  is  impossible. 
That,  Selkirk  has  learned  from  a  winter  of  futile 
bickering  for  military  protection  to  prevent  this  very 
disaster.  Selkirk  writes  fully  to  the  new  governor 
of  Canada — Sir  John  Sherbrooke — that  having  failed 
to  obtain  protection  from  the  Canadian  courts  he 
has  determined  to  go  on,  strong  in  his  own  right — 
as  conferred  by  the  charter  and  as  a  justice  of  the 
peace — to  arrest  the  Northwest  partners  at  Fort 
William.  "/  am  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  acting 
alone,  or  of  allowing  an  audacious  crime  to  pass  un- 
punished. I  cannot  doubt  it  is  my  duty  to  act,  though 
the  law  may  be  openly  resisted  by  a  set  of  men  accus- 
tomed to  consider  force  the  only  criterion  of  right." 

The  Nor'Westers  had  forcibly  invaded  and  de- 
stroyed his  colony.  Now  he  was  forcibly  to  invade 
and  destroy  their  fort.  Was  his  decision  wise?  Was 
it  the  first  misstep  into  the  legal  tangle  that  broke 
his  courage  and  sent  him  baffled  to  his  grave?  Let 
who  can  answer!  Be  it  remembered  that  the  Ca- 
nadian authorities  had  refused  him  protection;  that 
the  Canadian  magistrates  had  refused  him  redress. 

His  De  Meuron  soldiers  had  not  worn  their  military 
suits.     He  bids  them  don  their  regalia  now  and 

1 80 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


move  fonv'ard  with  all  the  accouterments  of  war — a 
feudal  lord  leading  his  retinue! 

"Between  ten  and  eleven  this  morning,  the  Earl 
oj  Selkirk  accompanied  by  his  bodyguard,  came  up 
the  river  in  jour  canoes^''  writes  Jasper  Vandersluys, 
a  clerk  of  Fort  William,  on  August  12,  1816.  "Be- 
tween one  and  two,  he  (Selkirk)  was  followed  by  eleven 
or  twelve  boats,  each  having  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
soldiers  all  armed,  who  encamped  on  the  opposite 
shore.^^  The  afternoon  passed  with  Selkirk's  men 
planting  cannon  along  the  river  bank,  heaping  can- 
non balls  in  readiness  and  cleaning  all  muskets. 
Nor'West  voyageurs  and  their  wives  rush  inside  the 
palisades.  The  women  are  sheltered  in  a  central 
building  upstairs  above  a  trapdoor.  The  men  are 
sent  scurrying  to  hide  one  hundred  loaded  muskets 
in  a  hay  loft.  In  the  watchtower  above  the  gates 
stand  the  Nor'West  partners — William  McGillivray, 
the  three  MacKenzies — ^Alex,  son  of  Roderick;  Ken- 
neth, and  old  drunken,  befuddled  Daniel — Simon 
Fraser,  the  explorer;  several  of  the  McDonell  clan, 
and  Dr.  John  McLoughlin,  shaking  his  head  sadly 
at  these  preparations  for  violence.  "There  has  been 
too  much  blood  shed  already,"  he  remarks. 

Next  afternoon  comes  a  Hudson's  Bay  messenger 
from  Selkirk  asking  for  McGillivray.  McLoughlin 
and  Kenneth  MacKenzie  accompany  McGillivray 

181 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

across  the  river.  One  hour  passes;  two  hours!  The 
women,  watching  from  the  loft  windows  above  the 
trapdoor,  began  to  hope  that  a  truce  had  been  ar- 
ranged. At  seven  in  the  evening  the  partners  had 
come  from  the  watchtower  to  shut  the  gates  when 
two  boat  loads  of  some  sixty  soldiers  glide  up  to  the 
wharf.  Fraser  and  Alex  McDonell  and  old  drunken 
Daniel  MacKenzie  rush  to  slam  the  gates  shut. 
One  leaf  is  banged  when  a  bugle  sounds!  Captain 
D'Orsonnens  of  the  soldiers,  shouts  "To  arms,  to 
arms,"  plants  his  foot  in  the  gateway  and  with 
flourishing  sword  rushes  his  men  into  the  court- 
yard ''with  loaded  muskets  and  fixed  bayonets, 
shouting,  cursing,  swearing  death  and  destruction 
to  all  persons."  One  Nor'Wester  rushes  to  ring  an 
alarm  bell.  The  others  have  dashed  for  their  apart- 
ments to  destroy  papers.  In  a  twinkling,  Selkirk's 
men  have  captured  every  cannon  in  Fort  William 
and  are  knocking  at  the  doors  of  the  central  building. 
Not  a  gun  has  been  fired;  not  a  blow  struck;  not  a 
drop  of  blood  shed;  but  the  trampling  feet  terrify 
the  women  in  the  attic.  They  crowd  above  the  trap- 
door to  hold  it  down,  when,  presto !  the  only  tragedy 
of  the  semi-farce  takes  place!  The  crowding  is  too 
much  for  the  trapdoor.  Down  it  crashes  spilling 
the  women  into  the  room  below,  just  as  the  aston- 
ished De  Meurons  dash  into  the  apartment  to  seal  all 

182 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


desks  and  papers.  It  is  a  question  whether  the 
soldiers  or  the  women  received  the  greater  shock; 
but  the  greatest  surprise  of  all  is  across  the  river 
where  the  three  Northwest  partners  are  received  by 
Selkirk  between  lines  of  armed  soldiers  and  are 
promptly  arrested,  bail  refused,  for  complicity  in 
the  massacre  of  Seven  Oaks.  Selkirk  allows  them 
to  go  back  to  the  fort  on  parole  for  the  night  and 
orders  the  liberation  of  those  Hudson's  Bay  prisoners 
in  the  butter- vat  prison — Lajimoniere  and  the  sur- 
vivors of  Seven  Oaks,  who  tell  my  lord  a  tale  that 
sharpens  his  vengeance.  The  night  passes  in  alarm. 
Soldiers  on  guard  at  the  room  of  each  partner  detect 
the  Nor'Westers  burning  papers  that  might  be  used 
as  evidence;  and  the  loaded  muskets  are  found  in 
the  hay  loft;  and  furs  are  discovered  stamped  R.  R. 
— H.  B.  C. — which  have  been  rifled  from  some  Hud- 
son's Bay  post. 

Day  dawns  in  a  drizzling  rain.  Across  the  river 
comes  my  Lord  Selkirk,  himself,  with  the  pomp  of  a 
war  lord,  bugles  blowing,  soldiers  in  the  boats  with 
muskets  on  shoulders,  a  guard  to  the  fore  clearing 
the  way.  The  common  voyageurs  are  forthwith 
ordered  to  decamp  to  the  far  side  of  the  river.  Lord 
Selkirk  takes  up  quarters  in  the  main  house,  the 
partners  being  marched  at  bayonet  point  to  other 
quarters.    For  four  days  the  farce  lasts.    Lord  Sel- 

183 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northivest 

kirk  as  justice  of  the  peace  examines  and  commits  for 
trial  all  the  partners  present.  The  partners  present 
scorn  his  assumption  of  authority  and  formally  de- 
mand that  the  voyageurs  be  sent  West  with  supplies 
for  the  year.  Selkirk's  answer  is  to  seize  the  voy- 
ageurs' canoes  and  set  his  soldiers  to  using  the  pali- 
sades of  Fort  William  for  firewood.  Then,  under 
pretense  of  searching  for  evidence  on  the  massacre  at 
Seven  Oaks,  he  seizes  all  Northwest  documents. 
Under  pretense  of  searching  for  stolen  furs,  he  ex- 
amines all  stores.  On  August  i8th,  everything  is  in 
readiness  to  conduct  the  prisoners  to  Eastern  Canada, 
all  except  old  Daniel  MacKenzie. 

Drunken  old  MacKenzie  is  remanded  to  the  prison 
for  special  examination.  MacKenzie  had  long  since 
been  incapacitated  for  active  service,  and  he  treas- 
ured a  grudge  against  the  other  partners  for  forcing 
him  to  resign.  Why  is  MacKenzie  being  held  back 
by  Selkirk?  Before  the  other  partners  are  carried 
off,  their  suspicions  are  aroused.  Perhaps  they  see 
Miles  MacDonell  and  the  De  Meurons  plying  the 
old  man  in  his  prison  with  whiskey.  At  all  events, 
they  command  the  clerks  left  in  charge  to  ignore 
orders  from  Daniel  MacKenzie.  They  protest  he 
has  no  authority  to  act  for  the  Northwest  Company. 
It  may  be  they  remember  how  they  had  jockeyed 
John  Jacob  Astor  out  of  his  fort  on  the  Pacific  by  a 

184 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


forced  sale;  and  now  guess  the  game  that  is  being 
played  with  Daniel  MacKenzie  against  them.  The 
partners'  baggage  is  searched.  The  De  Meurons 
turn  even  the  pockets  of  the  haughty  partners  inside 
out.  Then  the  prisoners  are  embarked  in  four  large 
canoes  under  escort  of  De  Meuron  soldiers.  The 
canoes  are  hurriedly  loaded  and  badly  crowded. 
Near  the  Sault,on  August  26th, one  swamps  and  sinks, 
drowning  seven  of  the  people,  including  the  partner, 
Kenneth  MacKenzie.  Allan  McDonell  and  Doctor 
McLoughlin  escape  by  swimming  ashore.  At  what 
is  now  Toronto,  the  prisoners  are  at  once  given  bail, 
and  they  dispatch  a  constable  to  arrest  Selkirk  at 
Fort  William;  but  Selkirk  claps  the  constable  in 
gaol  for  the  month  of  November  and  then  igno- 
miniously  drums  him  from  the  fort.  With  Selkirk, 
law  is  to  be  observed  only  when  it  is  English.  Cana- 
dian courts  do  not  count. 

Fuddled  with  drink,  crying  pitiably  for  more, 
Daniel  MacKenzie  passed  three  weeks  a  prisoner 
in  the  butter  vat,  three  more  a  prisoner  in  his  own 
room.  Six  weeks  of  dissipation,  or  else  his  treasured 
spite  against  the  other  partners,  now  work  so  on 
MacKenzie's  nerves  that  he  sends  for  Miles  Mc- 
Donell on  September  19th,  and  offers  to  sell  out  the 
Nor'Westers'  possessions,  worth  £100,000,  at  Fort 

18s 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

William,  to  Lord  Selkirk  for  £50  down,  ;£2,ooo  in  a 
year,  and  the  balance  as  soon  as  the  whole  price 
could  be  arbitrated  by  arbitrators  appointed  by  the 
Lords  Chief  Justice  of  England.  "/  have  been 
thinking, ^^  runs  his  rambling  letter  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Miles  McDonell,  ^^that  as  a  partner  of 
the  North-West  Company  and  the  only  one  here  at 
present  that  I  can  act  jar  them  myself,  that  all  the 
company  s  stores  and  property  here  are  at  my  dis- 
posal; that  my  sale  of  them  is  legal  by  which  I  can 
secure  to  myself  all  the  money  which  the  concern  owes 
me  and  keep  the  overplus  in  my  hands  until  a  legal 
demand  be  made  upon  me  to  pay  to  those  entitled. 
.  .  .  /  can  not  only  dispose  of  the  goods  but  the 
soil  on  which  they  are  built  if  I  can  find  a  purchaser."*^ 

Naturally,  MacKenzie  finds  a  purchaser  in  my 
Lord  Selkirk  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  and  almost  at  once 
receives  his  liberty.  Just  as  McDougall  had  sold  out 
the  Americans  on  the  Columbia,  so  MacKenzie  now 
sells  out  the  Nor'Westers  at  Fort  William. 

Then  the  old  man  writes  rambling  confessions  and 
accusations  which — he  boasts  to  Selkirk — contain 
evidence  ^Hhat  will  hang  McGillivray^^  for  the 
massacre  of  Seven  Oaks.  Selkirk  decides  to  send 
him  to  Eastern  Canada  as  a  witness  against  the 
partners,  but  before  he  is  sent  he  writes  circular 
letters  to  the  wintering  partners  of  the  Northwest 

186 


The  Coming  oj  the  Colonists 


Company  advising  them  to  follow  his  example  and 
save  themselves  from  ruin  by  turning  over  their  forts 
to  Lord  Selkirk.  In  October  he  is  sent  East,  but 
by  the  time  he  reaches  the  Sault,  his  brain  has  cleared. 
He  meets  John  McLoughlin  and  other  Northwest 
partners  returning  to  the  Up  Country  and  confesses 
what  he  has  done.  Instead  of  turning  witness  against 
them,  he  proceeds  East  to  sue  Selkirk  for  illegal  im- 
prisonment. 

If  Selkirk's  first  mistake  was  trying  to  enforce 
feudalism  on  Red  River  and  his  second  the  raiding 
of  Fort  William,  his  third  error  must  be  set  down  as 
using  an  old  drunkard  for  his  tool.  For  the  first 
error,  he  had  the  excuse  that  English  law  was  on  his 
side.  For  the  second,  he  claimed  that  ''Fort  William 
had  become  a  den  of  marauders  atid  robbers  and  he  was 
justified  in  holding  it  till  the  Nor^W esters  restored 
Red  River, ^^  but  for  the  trickery  with  old  MacKenzie 
there  existed  no  more  excuse  than  for  the  lawlessness 
of  the  Nor'Westers.  To  say  that  Miles  McDonell 
wrote  the  letters  with  MacKenzie's  signature  and 
that  he  engineered  the  trick — no  more  clears  Selkirk 
than  to  say  that  paid  servants  committed  the  most 
of  the  crimes  for  the  Northwest  partners.  It  is  the 
one  blot  against  the  most  heroic  figure  in  the  colo- 
nizing of  the  West.  And  the  trick  fooled  no  one. 
Not  a  voyageur,  not  a  trader,  flinched  in  his  loyalty 

187 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  the  Northwest  Company.  Not  a  man  would 
proceed  west  with  the  canoes  for  the  Hudson's  Bay 
officers. 

The  Lords  of  the  North  had  fallen  and  their  glory 
had  departed;  but  not  a  man  of  the  service  faltered 
in  his  loyalty.  It  was  a  loyalty  strong  as  the  serf 
for  the  feudal  baron. 

From  Fort  William,  Selkirk's  soldiers  radiated  to 
the  Northw^est  posts  of  Rainy  Lake  and  Minnesota. 
Peter  Qrant  was  brought  prisoner  from  Fond  du 
Lac  for  obstructing  the  Selkirk  scout,  Lajimoniere. 
At  the  Pic,  at  Michipicoten,  at  Rainy  Lake,  the  De 
Meuron  soldiers  appear  and  the  Northwest  forts  sur- 
render without  striking  a  blow.  Then  Captain 
D'Orsonnens  sets  out  in  December  with  twenty-six 
men  for  Red  River.  He  is  guided  by  J.  Ba'tiste 
Lajimoniere  and  the  white  man  who  had  lived  among 
the  Ojibbways — Tanner.  They  lead  him  along  the 
iced  river  bed  to  Rainy  Lake,  then  strike  straight 
westward  through  the  snow-padded  forests  of  Min- 
nesota for  the  swamp  lands  that  drain  to  Red  River 
near  the  Boundary.  All  travel  by  snowshoes, 
bivouacking  under  the  stars.  Then  a  dash  down 
Red  River  by  night  march  on  the  ice  and  the  Selkirk 
forces  are  within  striking  distance  of  Fort  Douglas 
by  the  first  week  of   January,    1817.     Wind   and 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


weather  favor  them.  A  howHng  blizzard  enshrouds 
eartli  and  air.  They  go  westward  to  the  Assini- 
boine  in  the  wooded  region  now  known  as  St,  James 
and  Silver  Heights.  Here  in  the  woods,  hidden  by 
the  snowstorm,  they  construct  scaling  ladders.  On 
the  night  of  January  loth,  the  stoiTn  is  still  raging. 
D'Orsonnens  rushes  his  men  across  to  Fort  Douglas. 
Up  with  the  scaling  ladders  and  over  the  walls  are 
the  De  Meurons  before  the  Nor'Westers  know  they 
are  attacked!  As  fell  Fort  William,  so  falls  Fort 
Douglas  without  a  blow  or  the  loss  of  a  life.  J. 
Ba'tiste  learns  with  joy  that  his  wife,  Marie  Ga- 
boury,  has  not  been  murdered  at  all  but  is  living  safe 
under  old  Chief  Peguis'  protection  across  Red  River, 
and  the  French  woman's  amazement  may  be  guessed 
when  there  appeared  at  the  hut  where  Peguis  had 
left  her,  the  wraith  of  the  husband  whom  she  had 
believed  dead  for  two  years.  Tanner,  the  other  scout, 
stays  in  D'Orsonnens'  service  till  Selkirk  comes. 

The  dispossessed  Nor'Westers  scatter  to  Lake 
Winnipeg.  After  them  marches  D'Orsonnens  to 
Winnipeg  River,  where  Alex  McDonell  is  trying  to 
bribe  the  Indians  to  sink  Selkirk's  boats  when  he 
comes  in  the  spring.  The  De  Meurons  capture  the 
post  at  Winnipeg  River,  and  send  coureurs  to  recall 
the  scattered  colonists.  Alex  McDonell  escapes  to 
the  interior. 

189 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

All  the  while,  from  June  19th  to  January  19th,  the 
colonists  had  been  wandering  like  the  children  of 
Israel  in  a  wilderness  of  woes.  When  they  had  been 
driven  to  Lake  Winnipeg  by  the  massacre,  they  had 
begged  Mr.  Bird  of  the  Saskatchewan  to  forward 
them  to  Hudson  Bay,  whence  they  could  take  ship 
for  England,  but  Bird  pointed  out  there  was  no  boat 
coming  to  the  bay  in  18 16  large  enough  to  carry 
two  hundred  people.  To  go  to  the  bay  for  the  winter 
would  be  to  risk  death  from  starvation.  Better  win- 
ter on  the  good  hunting  and  fishing  grounds  of  Lake 
Winnipeg.  It  was  well  the  majority  took  his  advice, 
for  the  Company  ships  this  year  were  locked  in  the 
bay  by  the  ice.  Cameron,  the  Northwest  prisoner, 
and  Colin  Robertson,  his  inveterate  enemy,  were 
both  icebound  at  Moose.  The  few  settlers  who 
pushed  forward  to  the  bay  like  the  widow  McLean, 
wife  of  the  murdered  settler,  passed  a  winter  of  semi- 
starvation  at  the  forts. 

Bird  set  the  colonists  fishing  for  the  winter,  and 
they  erected  huts  at  Jack  River.  Here,  then,  came 
De  Meuron  soldiers  in  the  spring  of  181 7,  to  lead  the 
wandering  colonists  back  to  Red  River;  and  to  Red 
River  came  Selkirk  by  way  of  Minnesota  in  the  sum- 
mer. For  the  first  time  the  nobleman  now  saw  the 
Promised  Land  to  which  he  had  blazed  a  trail  of 
suffering    and    sacrifice    and    blood    and   devotion 

190 


TJie  Coming  of  the  Coloni.sfs 


for  Earth's  Dispossessed  of  all  the  world!  D'Orson- 
nens  had  given  out  a  few  packs  of  seed,  grain  and 
potatoes  to  each  settler.  Rude  little  thatch-roofed 
cabins  had  been  knocked  together  with  furniture  ex- 
temporized of  trees  and  stumps.  Round  each  cabin 
there  swayed  in  the  yellow  July  light  to  the  rippling 
prairie  wind,  tiny  checker-board  patches  of  wheat 
and  barley  and  oats,  first  fruits  of  infinite  sacrifice, 
of  infinite  suffering,  of  infinite  despair — type  for  all 
time,  sacrificial  and  sacred,  of  the  Pioneer!  For  the 
first  time  Selkirk  now  saw  the  rolling  prairie  land, 
the  rolling  prairie  world,  the  seas  of  unpeopled,  fence- 
less, limitless  fields,  free  as  air,  broad  as  ocean !  To 
these  prairie  lands  had  he  blazed  the  Trail.  Was  it 
worth  while — the  suffering  on  that  Trail,  the  ig- 
nominy he  was  yet  to  suffer  for  that  Trail?  Did 
Selkirk  foresee  where  that  Trail  was  to  lead ;  how  the 
multitudinous  feet  of  Life's  Lost,  Earth's  Dispos- 
sessed, would  trample  along  that  Trail  to  New  Life, 
New  Hope,  New  Freedom?  Faith  in  God,  confi- 
dence in  high  destiny,  had  been  to  the  children  of 
Israel  through  their  wilderness,  a  cloud  of  shade  by 
day,  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night.  Had  Selkirk  the  com- 
fort of  the  same  vision,  confidence  of  the  same  high 
destiny  for  his  people?  I  cannot  answer  that.  From 
the  despairing  tone  of  his  letters,  I  fear  not.  All  we 
know  is  that  like  all  other  great  leaders  he  made 

191 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

mistakes,  and  the  consequences  of  those  mistakes 
hounded  him  to  his  death. 

In  August,  he  gathered  the  people  round  him  on 
the  spot  where  St.  John's  Cathedral  now  stands. 
He  shook  hands  with  each  and  learned  from  each 
his  tale  of  suffering.  To  each  he  gave  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  free  of  all  charges,  as  compensation 
for  their  hardships.  Then  he  gave  them  two  more 
lots.  ''This  lot  on  which  we  stand,  shall  be  for  your 
church,"  he  said.  "That  lot  south  of  the  creek  shall 
be  for  your  school;  and  in  memory  of  your  native 
parish,  this  place  shall  be  called  Kildonan."  To 
render  the  title  of  the  colonists'  land  doubly  secure, 
Selkirk  had  assembled  the  Swampy  Crees  and  Saul- 
teaux  on  July  i8th  and  made  treaty  with  them  for 
Red  River  on  condition  of  a  quit-rent  of  one  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco.  To  Lajimoniere,  the  scout,  Sel- 
kirk assigned  land  in  the  modern  St.  Boniface,  that 
brought  to  Marie  Gaboury's  children,  and  her 
children's  children,  untold  wealth  in  the  town  lots  of 
a  later  day.  Tanner,  the  stolen  white  boy,  Selkirk 
tried  to  recompense  by  advertising  for  his  relatives 
in  American  papers.  A  brother  in  Ohio  answered 
the  advertisement  and  came  to  Red  River  to  meet 
the  long  lost  boy.  The  restoration  was  fraught  with 
just  such  disaster  as  usually  attends  the  sudden 
transplanting  of  any  wild  thing.     Tanner,  the  white 

192 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


boy,  had  become  Tanner  the  grown  Indian.  He 
left  his  Indian  wife  and  married  a  Christian  giri  of 
Detroit.  The  union  was  agony  to  them  both.  Tan- 
ner was  a  man  at  war  in  his  own  nature — neither 
white  man  nor  Indian.  In  a  quarrel  at  the  Sault 
some  years  later,  he  was  accused  of  shooting  a  man 
and  fled  from  arrest  to  the  swamps.  When  spring 
came,  his  skeleton  was  found.  He  had  either  sui- 
cided in  despair,  or  wounded  himself  by  accident 
and  perished  of  starvation  in  the  swamp.  Many 
years  afterwards  the  confession  of  a  renegade  sol- 
dier in  Texas  cleared  Tanner's  reputation  of  all  guilt. 
The  soldier  himself  had  committed  the  murder, 
and  poor  Tanner  had  fled  from  the  terrors  of  laws 
he  did  not  understand  like  a  hunted  Ishmaelite  to 
the  wilderness.  To-day,  some  of  his  descendants 
are  among  the  foremost  settlers  of  Minnesota. 

In  May,  1817,  Royal  Proclamation  had  com- 
manded both  companies  to  desist  from  disorders  and 
restore  each  other's  property.  William  Bachelor 
Coltman  and  Major  Fletcher  came  as  Royal  Com- 
missioners to  restore  order  and  take  evidence.  Fort 
William  passed  back  to  the  Nor'Westers  and  a  new 
Gibraltar  arose  on  the  banks  of  the  Assiniboine. 
Urgent  interests  called  Selkirk  East.  Trials  were 
pending  in  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  against  both 

193 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

companies  for  the  disorders.  With  Tanner  as  guide 
to  the  Mississippi,  Selkirk  evaded  the  plots  of  the 
Nor'Westers  by  going  south  to  St.  Louis,  east  to  New 
York,  and  north  to  Canada. 

Volumes  have  been  written  and  heads  cracked 
and  reputations  broken  on  the  justice  or  injustice  of 
the  famous  trials  between  the  Nor'Westers  and  Hud- 
son's Bay.  Robertson,  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  was 
to  be  tried  for  seizing  Gibraltar.  The  Nor'Westers 
were  charged  with  being  accomplices  to  the  massacre 
of  Seven  Oaks.  Selkirk  was  sued  for  the  imprison- 
ment of  Daniel  MacKenzie  and  the  resistance  offered 
to  the  Canadian  sheriff  at  Fort  William.  In  every 
case  except  the  two  civil  actions  against  Selkirk,  the 
verdict  was  "not  guilty."  Whether  the  judges  were 
bribed  by  the  Nor'Westers  as  the  Hudson's  Bay 
charged,  or  the  juries  were  "unduly  influenced"  by 
Selkirk's  passionate  address  and  pamphlets,  as  the 
Nor'Westers  declared — I  do  not  purpose  discussing 
here.  Selkirk  was  sentenced  to  pay  £1,500  for  im- 
prisoning Daniel  MacKenzie  and  ;^5oo  for  resisting 
the  sheriff.  As  for  the  verdicts,  I  do  not  see  how  a 
Canadian  court  could  have  given  a  verdict  favorable 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay,  without  repudiating  rights  of 
Canadian  possession;  or  a  verdict  favorable  to  the 
Nor'Westers,  without  repudiating  the  laws  of  the 
British  Empire.     The  truth  is — the  old  royal  charter 

194 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


had  created  a  condition  of  dual  authority  that  was 
responsible  for  all  the  train  of  disasters.  It  was 
unofficially  conveyed  to  the  leaders  of  both  com- 
panies by  the  British  Government  that  if  they  could 
see  their  way  to  union,  it  would  remove  the  necessity 
of  the  British  Government  determining  which  com- 
pany possessed  the  alleged  rights. 

As  for  Selkirk's  fines,  they  were  paid  jointly  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  himself,  William 
Williams,  a  swashbuckler  military  man,  is  appointed 
at  £i,ooo  a  year  to  succeed  Semple  and  force  the 
trade  so  that  the  Nor'Westers  will  be  compelled  to 
sue  for  union  and  accept  what  terms  are  offered. 
More  men  are  to  be  sent  up  from  Montreal  to  capture 
Athabasca.  The  Rev.  John  West  is  appointed 
clergyman  of  Red  River  in  1819,  at  £100  a  year. 
Annuities  of  £^0  each  are  granted  for  life  to  Semple's 
two  sisters.  Pensions  are  granted  the  widows  of 
settlers  killed  at  Seven  Oaks — to  the  widows  Mc- 
Lean, Donovan,  Coan  and  two  others.  Oman  Nor- 
quay,  forbear  of  Premier  Norquay  of  modem  Mani- 
toba, is  permitted  to  quit  the  Company  service  and 
join  the  colony.  So  are  the  Gunn  brothers  and  the 
Banncrmans,  and  the  Mathesons,  and  the  Isbisters, 
and  the  Inksters,  and  the  Hardistics,  and  the 
Spencers,  and  the  Fletts,  and  the  Birds.  Selkirk 
has  gone  to  France  for  his  health,  harried  and  weary 

195 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

of  the  thankless  strife.  On  November  8,  1820,  he 
dies.  The  same  year,  passes  away  his  great  op- 
ponent in  trade  and  aim — Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie, 
in  Scotland.  The  year  that  these  two  famous  leaders 
and  rivals  died,  there  was  born  in  Scotland  the  next 
great  leader  of  the  next  great  era  in  the  West,  the 
nation  building  era  that  was  to  succeed  the  pioneer- 
ing— Donald  Smith,  to  become  famous  as  Lord 
Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXVIII. — The  data  for  this  chapter  are 
gathered  from  so  many  sources,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
except  in  a  bibliographical  list.  Every  book  or  pamphlet 
written  on  this  era  I  possess  in  my  library  and  consulted,  and 
I  may  add — ignored,  for  the  reason  that  all  are  so  absurdly 
partisan,  either  a  rabid  defense  of  the  H.  B.  C,  making  no 
mention  of  the  faults  of  the  English,  or  a  rabid  attack  on  the 
H.  B.  C.  giving  not  a  jot  of  the  most  damning  evidence  against 
theN.W.  C. 

V^hile  consulting  all  secondary  authorities  on  this  chapter, 
I  have  relied  solely  on  the  confidential  reports  to  the  British 
Government  which  I  obtained  from  the  Records  Office  by 
special  permission  of  the  Colonial  Secretary.  These  include 
Sherbrooke's  report  to  Bathurst,  Coltman's  confidential  sum- 
mary to  Sherbrooke,  the  letters  which  the  N.  W.  C.  showered 
upon  the  Home  Government,  the  memorials  with  letters  ap- 
pended which  the  H.  B.  C.  filed.  From  these  sources  I  got  the 
letters  from  which  all  direct  quotations  are  made,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  plan  to  assassinate  Selkirk,  which  tells  against 
the  Nor' Westers;  or  the  trickery  with  Daniel  MacKenzie,  which 
tells  against  Selkirk.  Nor  have  I  quoted  the  worst  of  these 
letters;  for  instance,  the  details  where  Alex  McDonell  plans 
the  death  of  Selkirk.  Alex  McDonell  must  not  be  taken  too 
seriously  as  representing  the  Nor' Westers'  sentiment,  for  from 
the  time  his  brother  Eneas  was  killed  by  a  H.  B.  C.  man,  Alex 
McDonell  was  no  longer  sane  on  the  subject.  He  was  a  High- 
lander gone  mad  with  revenge.  Nor  have  I  quoted  the  evidence 
of  an  H.  B.  C.  man  about  the  N.  W.  C.  partners  walking  over 
the  field  of  Seven  Oaks  cracking  jokes  about  the  mangled  bodies 
of  the  slain.      The  witnesses  who    gave   such   evidence  were 

196 


The  Coming  of  tJie  Colonists 


ignorant  men  with  inflamed  minds,  and  in  addition — I  am  sorry 
to  add — liars!  In  the  first  place,  the  bodies  had  been  buried 
before  the  partners  arrived.  In  the  second,  though  the  wolves 
tore  the  bodies  up.  Dr.  McLoughlin  and  Simon  Fraser  were  not 
the  kind  of  men  to  exult  ghoulishly  over  the  scalped  corpses 
of  dead  white  men.  It  shows  the  absurd  lengths  to  which 
fanaticism  had  run  when  such  testimony  was  credited,  and  is 
of  a  piece  with  that  other  vulgar  slander  that  the  N.  W.  C. 
intended  to  turn  the  Half-breeds  loose  among  the  women  and 
children. 

It  may  be  objected  that  "trickery"  is  too  strong  a  term  re- 
garding the  treatment  of  old  Daniel  MacKenzie,  especially  in 
view  of  the  fact  he  himself  was  avowedly  unreliable.  The 
evidence  must  speak  for  itself.  MacKenzie  had  been  induced 
to  write  letters  to  the  wintering  partners  advising  them  to  turn 
things  over  to  Selkirk.  When  his  name  was  signed,  MacDonell 
undertook  to  change  the  letter.  Here  is  one  with  MacDonell's 
changes  in  brackets: 

To  Roderick  MacKenzie 

Fort  William  on  Lake  Superior.     Sept.   1816. 
Dear  Roderick  (Sir): 

By  a  canoe  that  returned  (to  the  interior)  from  near  the 
Mountain  Portage,  you  must  have  heard  the  events  that  has 
taken  place  here.  Mr.  McGillivray  and  all  the  partners  includ- 
ing myself,  were  made  prisoners.  All  the  gentlemen  are  sent 
down  prisoners  to  take  their  trial  at  York  as  aiding,  abetting  and 
instigating  the  murder,  the  dreadful  massacre.  The  N.  W.  C. 
is  ruined  beyond  a  hope.  (The  packs  here  will  not  go  down 
nor  will  goods  be  permitted  to  enter  the  interior,  the  Red  River 
being  declared  in  a  state  of  rebellion.)  The  massacre  that  has 
taken  place  on  Red  River  is  the  (principal)  cause  of  all  this.  Lord 
Selkirk  may  (perhaps)  soften  matters  in  your  favor  provided 
you  will  (make  your  submission  to  him  in  time  and)  honestly 
own  all  that  you  know  about  the  instigators  of  this  horrid  affair. 
I  have  his  Lordship's  command  to  tell  you  so  (I  have  heard  as 
much,  though  not  direct  from  his  Lordship)  and  I  would  advise 
you  as  your  own  and  the  friend  of  your  deceased  father  to 
(come  forward  immediately  with  some  proposal  to  save  your- 
self) submit  to  his  Lordship's  pleasure.  You  should  also  explain 
to  these  deluded  half  breeds  (young  men  whom  you  may  see 
and  the  unfortunate  half  breeds  who  were  guilty  of  such  ex- 
tremities) that  it  was  the  ambition  of  others  that  rendered  us 
all  miserable.  That  is  the  real  truth.  (I  am  happy  to  learn 
that  you  endeavored  to  save  Gov.  Semple's  life.  Tnis  is  much 
in  your  favor.  .  .  ,  The  only  advice  I  have  to  give  is  to 
submit,  etc. 


197 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


I  have  some  thirty  pages  of  transcripts  on  the  Athabasca 
Campaign  this  year  of  1816.  Space  does  not  permit  the  full 
story  of  the  first  campaign.  The  second  campaign,  Colin  Rob- 
ertson tells  in  the  next  chapter.  I  have  also  omitted  the  story 
of  Keveney's  murder.  It  is  not  an  integral  part  of  the  struggle. 
Keveney  had  been  Selkirk's  recruiting  agent  in  Ireland,  and  was 
hurrying  from  Albany  to  join  Selkirk  at  Red  River  in  Septem- 
ber, 18 16.  He  proved  a  very  brute  to  his  men,  lying  in  state 
while  they  toiled  at  the  oar,  then  at  night  sticking  a  bayonet  in 
any  poor  guard  who  chanced  to  fall  asleep  on  duty.  His  men 
deserted  him.  Keveney  was  captured  by  the  N.  W.  C.  on 
Winnipeg  River  and  treated  as  a  gentleman  among  the  officers. 
This  treatment  he  abused  by  trying  to  escape.  The  N.  W.  C. 
then  handcuffed  him,  but  what  were  they  to  do  with  him? 
They  did  not  want  him  in  Red  River  as  a  spy,  and  Selkirk  held 
Fort  William.  They  ordered  an  Indian  and  a  paid  soldier 
(de  Reinhard)  to  take  him  out  in  a  boat  and  kill  him  on  the 
way  up  Winnipeg  River.  The  Indian  shot  him.  Reinhard 
finished  the  murder  by  running  a  sword  through  his  body. 
This  sort  of  high-handed  ruffianism  should  be  remembered 
when  considering  Selkirk's  course  at  Fort  William.  Reinhard 
was  carried  prisoner  to  Montreal  for  this,  but  there  was  no 
conviction. 

The  exact  number  of  soldiers  employed  by  Selkirk  is  given 
as  one  hundred  and  forty.     The  other  sixty  men  were  voyageurs. 

I  have  purposely  omitted  the  name  of  another  McDonell  in 
this  chapter — namely  the  man  who  succeeded  Governor  Semple 
as  commander  of  Fort  Douglas  for  two  days  before  the  surren- 
der. There  are  so  many  McDonells  in  this  chapter  and  all  re- 
lated that  I  have  avoided  mentioning  any  but  the  main  actors. 
All  of  these  who  survived  the  fights  finally  retired  to  live  in 
Glengarry  on  the  Ottawa  and  in  Cornwall.  One  may  guess 
with  so  many  members  of  the  fiery  clan  on  opposing  sides,  how 
old  age  arguments  must  have  waxed  hot.  The  McDonells  of 
Toronto  are  kin  of  this  clan.  Governor  Semple's  successor  was 
known  as  "  grasshopper  McDonell. " 

Many  writers  state  no  colonists  were  killed  at  Seven  Oaks. 
Nevertheless,  five  widows  were  pensioned,  one  poor  widow  on 
condition  she  could  prove  her  claim,  as  another  woman  claimed 
the  pension  of  the  deceased  settler. 

Semple  had  been  employed  only  a  year  when  he  met  death. 
Yet  the  company  pensioned  his  two  sisters  for  life,  though  the 
H.  B.  C.  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Semple's  father  left 
Philadelphia  for  London  when  the  Revolutionary  War  broke 
out. 


198 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


The  N.  W.  C.  say  that  Selkirk  meant  from  the  first  to  attack 
Fort  William.  This  is  nonsense.  The  letters  sent  by  Laji- 
moniere  warned  Robertson  to  prepare  for  him  in  Minnesota. 
The  letter  was  stopped  by  the  N.  W.  C.  and  found  by  Selkirk 
in  a  secret  press  at  Fort  William.  Did  the  Nor' Westers  intend 
to  attack  Fort  Douglas?  They  say  not,  but  between  attacking 
a  fort  and  starving  it  out  is  not  wide  difference. 

In  most  of  the  evidence  it  is  shown  that  Boucher  ordered 
Semple  in  French,  Semple  answering  in  English.  I  have  given 
it  all  in  English. 

A  full  account  of  Seven  Oaks  will  be  found  in  the  novel, 
"Lords  of  the  North,"  with  free  rendering  of  Pierre's  song. 
The  fate  of  the  Deschamps  will  be  found  in  "The  Story  of  the 
Trapper." 

Coltman's  official  report  is  marvelously  impartial,  consider- 
ing he  had  formerly  been  an  agent  for  the  H.  B.  C.  Major 
Fletcher  did  not  count.  Tradition  and  private  letters  of  Sher- 
brooke  relate  that  the  major  was  scarcely  sober  during  the 
journey  of  investigation. 

Full  account  of  Tanner's  life  will  be  found  in  the  Minnesota 
Hist.  Society's  Collections.  Tanner  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman 
on  the  Ohio.  He  was  stolen  by  wandering  Shawnees  when 
barely  eight  years  old,  and  sold  to  a  woman  chieftain  of  the 
Ottawas  at  the  Sault.  Here  at  an  early  age  he  married  a 
native  girl.  When  his  brother  found  him  at  Red  River,  Tanner 
was  averse  to  going  back  to  civilization;  He  hated  the  white 
man  clothes,  which  his  brother  induced  him  to  wear,  and  ap- 
peared at  Mackinac  a  grotesque  figure  with  coat  sleeves  and 
trouser  legs  foreshortened.  The  Wisconsin  Society's  Historical 
Collection  contains  an  account  of  him  at  this  period.  At  Macki- 
nac, his  squaw  wife,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  refused  to  goon 
with  him  to  the  white  man's  land,  and  she  remained  at  Macki- 
nac. Poor  Tanner's  stay  in  civilization  was  short.  He  came 
back  to  the  Sault  with  a  white  wife.  The  man,  of  whose  death 
he  was  accused,  was  the  brother  of  Henry  Schoolcraft  at  the 
Sault.  The  quarrel  was  over  attentions  to  a  voung  daughter  of 
Tanner's.  As  stated  ip  the  main  story,  a  blackguard  soldier,  not 
Tanner,  was  the  real  murderer. 

ructions  from  Governor  Semple  to  Colin   Robertson. 
Fort  Douglas,  12  April,  1816. 
Robertson,  Esq., 
r: 

I  heard  with  pleasure  of  yr.  having  taken  possession  of 
)rt  occupied  by  the  N.  W.  C.  at  the  Forks  ot  Red  River. 


199 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


It  was  a  measure  on  wh.  I  was  fully  determined  and  wh.  was 
not  only  justified  but  imperiously  demanded  by  the  conduct  and 
avowed  hostilities  of  our  implacable  opponents. 

With  regard  to  intercepting  the  despatches  of  the  N.  W.  C. 
it  was  a  step  arising  out  of  the  former  and  wh.  has  happily  fur- 
nished its  own  justification  to  the  fullest  extent.  A  more  com- 
plete disclosure  of  plans  of  deliberate  villainy  has  never  yet 
met  my  eye  and  I  can  only  regret  that  such  schemes  of  pillage, 
burning  and  murder  should  have  been  planned  and  be  so  nearly 
on  the  point  of  execution  by  men  belonging  to  the  same  coun- 
try as  ourselves. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 
(Signed)  Robert  Semple. 


Governor  Semple  to  Duncan  Cameron 

Fort  Douglas,  31  March,  1816, 
Sir: 

I  regret  that  an  indisposition  subsequent  to  my  arrival  here 
has  prevented  my  addressing  you  till  now.  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  tell  you  as  soon  as  possible  the  charges  alleged  against  you 
and  wh.  I  assure  you  will  demand  yr.  most  serious  consideration., 

ist.  You  are  accused  of  seducing  His  Majesty's  subjects 
settled  on  Red  River  and  the  servants  of  the  Earl  of  Selkirk  to 
desert  and  defraud  their  master  and  one  to  whom  the  former 
were  largely  indebted. 

2d.  Of  collecting,  harbouring  and  encouraging  Half-breeds 
and  vagabonds  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  destroying  an 
Infant  British  Colony. 

3d.  Through  the  means  of  these  men  thus  collected  of 
firing  upon,  wounding  and  causing  the  death  of  His  Majesty's  sub- 
jects defending  their  property  in  their  own  houses. 

4th.  Through  the  means  of  these  men  headed  by  yr.  clerks 
or  the  clerks  of  the  N.  W.  C.  such  as  Cuthbert  Grant,  Charles 
Hesse,  Bostonais  Pangman,  William  Shaw  and  others  of  burning 
a  fort,  a  mill,  sundry  houses,  carts,  ploughs  and  instruments  of 
agriculture  belonging  to  the  said  infant  colony. 

5th.  Of  wantonly  destroying  English  cattle  brought  here 
at  an  immense  expense  and  of  carrying  off  horses,  dogs  and 
other  property  to  a  large  amount. 

The  horses  were  collected  in  your  own  fort  and  distributed 
by  yourself  and  your  partner  Mr.  A.  McDonnell,  to  those  men 
who  had  most  distinguished  themselves  in  the  above  act  of 
robbery  and  mischief. 

6th.  Of  encouraging  Indian  tribes  to  make  war  upon  Brit- 
ish subjects  attempting  to  colonize,  representing  to  them  ac- 

200 


The  Coming  of  the  Colonists 


cording  to  their  ideas  that  cattlemen  would  spoil  their  lands  and 
make  them  miserable,  and  expressing  your  hope  they  would 
never  allow  it. 

7th.  Without  unnecessarily  multiplying  charges  it  appears 
now  by  your  own  letters  that  you  were  making  every  prepara- 
tion to  renew  the  same  atrocities  this  year,  if  possible  on  a  more 
extensive  scale,  collecting  the  Half-Breeds  from  points  still 
more  distant  than  before  and  endeavoring  to  influence  both 
their  rage  and  avarice  by  every  means  in  yr.  power.  You  even 
breathe  the  pious  wish  that  the  Pilleurs  may  be  excited  against 
us  here  saying  "they  may  make  a  very  good  booty  if  they  only 
go  cunningly  to  work." 

Such  are  the  principal  charges  you  will  be  called  upon  to 
answer.  It  would  be  easy  but  at  present  unnecessary  to  swell 
the  catalogue  with  minor  but  serious  accusations  and  however 
much  a  long  residence  here  may  induce  you  to  consider  them 
of  small  importance,  depend  upon  it  they  will  be  viewed  in  a 
very  different  light  by  a  British  jury  and  a  British  public. 

The  whole  mass  of  intercepted  papers  now  in  my  hands 
appears  to  disclose  such  wicked  principles  and  transactions 
that  I  think  it  my  duty  to  forward  them  to  be  laid  before  His 
Maj.'s  ministers  by  the  director  of  the  Honourable,  the  H.  B.  C. 
I  am  preparing  a  letter  to  the  agents  and  proprietors  of  the 
N.  W.  C.  advismg  them  of  this  my  resolution  and  the  motives 
wh.  have  determined  me  to  it,  a  copy  of  wh.  shall  be  handed 
to  you  meantime. 

I  remain.  Sir, 

Robert  Semple. 
D.  Cameron,  Esq. 


201 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

1816-1821 

BOTH  COMPANIES  MAKE  A  DASH  TO  CAPTURE  ATHA- 
BASCA WHENCE  CAME  THE  MOST  VALUABLE 
FURS — ROBERTSON  OVERLAND  TO  MONTREAL, 
TRIED  AND  ACQUITTED,  LEADS  A  BRIGADE  TO 
ATHABASCA — HE  IS  TRICKED  BY  THE  NOR'- 
WESTERS,  BUT  TRICKS  THEM  IN  TURN  ^  THE 
UNION  OF  THE  COMPANIES — SIR  GEORGE  SIMP- 
SON, GOVERNOR. 

IT  WAS  mid-winter  before  word  that  Fort  Doug- 
las had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Nor'Westers 
and  Fort  William  into  the  hands  of  Lord  Sel- 
kirk, came  to  Colin  Robertson  icebound  at  Moose. 
Robertson  was  ever  the  stormy  petrel  of  every  fight 
— one  of  those  doughty  heroes  of  iron  strength  who 
thought  no  more  of  tramping  seven  hundred  miles 
on  snowshoes  for  Christmas  dinner  with  some  com- 
rade of  the  wilds  than  town  men  think  of  a  voyage 
across  their  own  dining-room.  Though  he  knew 
very  well  that  the  Half-breeds  had  threatened  "to 
flay  him  alive,"  that  the  Indians  had  been  bribed  to 
scalp  him,  and  that  warrants  were  out  in  Montreal 

202 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

for  his  arrest  in  connection  with  the  seizure  of  Gibral- 
tar from  the  Nor' Wester,  Cameron — Robertson  did 
not  hesitate  for  a  moment.  He  set  out  on  snowshoes 
for  Montreal.  Now  that  Selkirk  was  on  the  field, 
Robertson  knew  it  would  be  a  fight  to  the  death. 
The  company  that  captured  Athabasca,  whence 
came  the  wealth  of  furs,  would  be  able  to  force  the 
other  to  terms  of  union. 

To  be  sure,  Sherbrooke,  Governor  General  of 
Canada,  had  issued  a  Royal  Proclamation  com- 
manding peace;  but  Williams,  the  new  Hudson's 
Bay  governor,  declared  "the  royal  proclamation  was 

all  d nonsense!"    He  "would  drive  every  Nor'- 

Wester  out  of  the  country  or  perish  in  the  attempt." 
On  the  Nor'Westers'  side  was  equal  defiance  of  the 
Proclamation.  The  most  of  the  Northwest  Eaistern 
partners  were  either  under  bail  or  yet  in  confinement. 
Of  their  Western  partners,  Norman  McLeod,  the 
justice  of  the  peace,  was  the  ruling  spirit;  and  his 
views  of  the  Canadian  Proclamation  may  be  guessed 
from  orders  to  his  bullies  in  Athabasca:  "Go  it,  my 
lads!  Go  it!  You  can  do  what  you  like  here! 
There  is  no  law  in  the  Indian  Territory!" 

Down  to  Montreal,  then,  came  Colin  Robertson, 
full  of  fight  as  an  Irishman  of  Tipperary.  "The 
effusions  of  the  Nor'Westers  might  have  staggered 
my  resolution  to  come  to  Montreal,"  he  writes  in  his 

203 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

letters  of  1817  to  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany. "' Robertson  go  to  Montreal !  No!  He  may 
find  his  way  to  the  States  if  we  don't  catch  him!' 
Such  was  the  language  held  forth  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie, 
Lake  Superior,  which  had  no  other  effect  on  me  than 
calling  forth  a  little  caution.  ...  I  was  at  the 
Sault  when  a  fur  trader  made  his  appearance  in  a 
light  canoe  on  his  way  from  Red  River  to  Montreal. 
With  him,  I  embarked  and  arrived  at  the  Lake  of 
the  Two  Mountains  on  the  nth  of  August,  181 7. 
.  .  .  As  soon  as  the  fur  trader  pushed  off,  I  re- 
quested a  Frenchman  to  furnish  me  with  a  small 
Indian  canoe  and  two  faithful  Iroquois  ...  I 
embarked  at  midnight  .  .  .  and  crossed  the 
lake  about  an  hour  after  sunrise.  .  .  .  M.  de 
Lotbiniere  .  .  .  furnished  me  with  a  calash  at 
eleven  that  night.  ...  I  entered  Montreal  at 
five  in  the  morning  and  drove  to  Dr.  Monroe's,  the 
least  suspicious  place,  his  profession  .making  early 
calls  frequent.  I  was  at  once  recognized  by  the 
doctor,  who  informed  me  that  a  partner  of  the  North- 
West  Company  had  apartments  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  house.  I  immediately  muffled  myself  in  my 
cloak  and  so  entered.  ...  As  soon  as  I  had 
breakfast,  I  made  my  appearance  in  the  streets  of 
Montreal,  where  I  was  stared  at  by  friends  of  the 
Nor'Westers  as  if  I  were  a  ghost    .    .    .    and  my 

204 


Both  'Companies  Make  a  Dash 

appearance  gathered  such  a  crowd,  I  was  obliged  to 
disappear  inside  a  boarding  house.     ...     " 

"The  residences  of  the  Nor' Westers  in  London 
and  Montreal  are  splendid  establishments,  the  re- 
sorts of  the  first  in  society,  the  benefit  from  this  os- 
tentatious display  of  wealth  being  the  friendship  of 
legal  authorities.  .  .  .  Even  the  prisons  of  Mon- 
treal are  become  places  of  public  entertainment  from 
the  circumstance  of  yet  holding  some  partners  of 
the  North-West  Company.  .  .  .  Every  other 
night,  a  ball  or  supper  is  given;  and  the  Highland 
bagpipes  utter  the  sound  of  martial  music  as  if  to 
deafen  public  censure.  The  most  glaring  instance 
of  the  Nor'Westers'  contempt  for  law  is  their  attempt 
to  attract  public  notice  by  illuminating  all  the  prison 
windows  every  night.  Strangers  will  naturally  ask: 
'for  what  crimes  are  these  gentlemen  committed? 
For  debt?'  No  ...  for  murder  .  .  . 
arson  .  .  .  robbery.  .  .  .  Our  old  friend, 
Mr.  Astor,  is  here.  .  .  .  He  is  frequently  in  the 
society  of  the  Nor'Westers  .  .  .  and  feels  very 
sore  toward  them  about  Astoria." 

Rol)ertson's  letters  then  tell  of  his  trial  for  the 
seizure  of  Gibraltar  and  his  acquittal.  He  frankly 
hints  that  his  lawyers  had  to  bribe  the  Montreal 
judge  to  secure  "a  fair"  hearing.  So  passed  the 
year.    In  1818  came  Selkirk  back  from  Red  River 

205 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  Montreal,  who  agreed  with  Robertson  that  the 
only  way  to  force  the  Nor'Westers  to  their  knees  was 
to  send  a  second  expedition  to  capture  Athabasca, 
whence  came  the  wealth  of  furs  that  enabled  the  rival 
Company  to  bribe  the  courts.  In  April,  1819,  Rob- 
ertson set  out  with  a  flotilla  of  nineteen  canoes  from 
Ste.  Anne's,  each  canoe  with  five  French  voyageurs, 
and  went  up  the  Ottawa  across  Lake  Superior  to 
Thunder  Bay.  "This  place  gave  me  a  bad  turn  the 
other  day,"  he  writes.  "The  wind  blew  fresh  but  the 
swell  was  by  no  means  high.  •  My  Indians  seemed 
reluctant  to  attempt  the  traverse.  I  imprudently  or- 
dered them  a  glass  of  rum,  when  the  whoop  was  im- 
mediately given !  In  a  moment,  our  canoe  was  in  the 
swell.  We  came  where  a  heavy  sea  was  running. 
Here,  we  began  to  ship  water.  The  guide  ordered 
the  bowman  removed  back  to  the  second  thwart. 
This  lightened  the  head.  An  oilcloth  was  then 
thrown  over  the  head  of  a  canoe  to  avoid  the  break- 
ing of  the  sea.  The  silence  that  prevailed,  when  one 
of  those  heavy  swells  was  rolling  upon  us,  was  truly 
appalling.  Paddles  were  lifted  and  all  watched  the 
approach  with  perfect  composure.  Our  steersman 
kept  balancing  the  slender  bark  by  placing  her  in  the 
best  position  to  the  waves.  .  .  .  The  moment 
the  roller  passed,  every  paddle  was  in  the  water, 
every  nerve  stretched  to  gain  the  land!    Although 

206 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

two  men  were  employed  bailing  out  water,  fifty  yards 
more  would  have  swamped  us.     .    .     .    " 

From  Lake  Superior,  the  brigade  passed  up  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Lake  Winnipeg,  where  Rob- 
ertson was  joined  by  the  same  John  Clarke  who 
had  suffered  defeat  in  Athabasca  on  the  first  expe- 
dition. Here  the  forces  were  increased  to  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  men  by  the  refugees  of  the  first  bri- 
gade, who  had  escaped  from  the  North.  Robert- 
son's letter  from  this  point  gives  some  particulars 
of  the  first  brigade's  expulsion  from  Athabasca: 
"The  Nor' Westers  did  not  confine  themselves  to  the 
seizure  of  persons  and  property.  They  adminis- 
tered an  oath  to  our  servants,  threatening  with  star- 
vation and  imprisonment  if  they  did  not  comply,  that 
for  the  space  of  three  years  these  Hudson's  Bay 
servants  would  not  attempt  to  oppose  the  North- 
West  Company.  One  of  the  guides,  a  witty  rogue, 
who  knew  theology  from  the  circumstance  of  his 
cousin  being  a  priest,  fell  on  a  way  of  absolving  his 
French  countrymen  from  this  oath  ...  to  re- 
pair to  the  woods  and  cross  themselves  and  ask 
pardon  of  their  Maker  for  a  false  oath  to  a  heretic; 
but  some  poor  Scotchmen  could  not  cheat  their  con- 
science so  easily,  and  I  have  had  to  let  them  leave 
me  on  that  account.     ..." 

The  Nor'Westers  had  kept  as  a  deadly  secret  from 
207 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  Indians  all  knowledge  of  the  fact  they  had  been 
beaten  by  Lord  Selkirk.  Robertson's  next  letter 
tells  how  the  secret  leaked  out  in  Athabasca.  Amidst 
the  uproarious  carousals  of  the  Nor'Westers  at  Chip- 
pewyan,  the  Hudson's  Bay  captives  were  brought  to 
the  mess  room  to  be  the  butt  of  drunken  jokes.  On 
one  occasion,  Norman  McLeod  bawled  out  a  song 
in  celebration  of  the  massacre  of  settlers  at  Red 
River,  of  which  each  verse  ended  in  this  couplet: 

"The  H.  B.  C.  came  up  a  hill,  and  up  a  hill  they  came, 
The  H.  B.  C.  came  up  the  hill,  but  down  they  went 
again!" 

Roars  of  laughter  were  making  the  rafters  ring 
when  it  suddenly  struck  one  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
prisoners  that  the  brutal  jeer  might  be  paid  back  in 
kind. 

"  Y'  hae  niver  asked  me  for  a  song,"  says  the  canny 
Hudson's  Bay  McFarlane  to  his  Nor' West  tormentor. 
"If  agreeable,  I  hae  a  varse  o'  me  ain  compaesin'." 

"Silence,  gentlemen,"  roars  McLeod  to  the 
drunken  roomful  of  partners  and  clerks  and  Indians. 
"Silence!    Mr.  McFarlane,  your  song." 

Remembering  that  the  power  of  the  Northwest 
Company  with  the  Indians  depended  on  the  fright- 
ened savages  being  kept  ignorant  of  Lord  Selkirk's 
victories,  the  Hudson's  Bay  man's  thin  voice  piped 
up  these  words  to  the  same  tune: 

208 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

"But  Selkirk  brave  went  up  a  hill,  and  to  Fort  William 
came, 
When  in  he  popped — and  out  from  thence — could  not 
be  driven — a-g-a-i-n!" 

Before  the  last  words  had  died  in  the  appalling 
silence  that  fell  on  the  rowdies,  or  the  Indians  could 
quite  grasp  what  the  song  meant,  McLeod  had 
jumped  from  his  chair  yelling: 

"I'll  give  you  a  hundred  guineas  if  you'll  tell 
the  name  of  the  man  who  brought  news  of  that 
here." 

But  McFarlane  had  no  wish  to  see  some  faithful 
coureur's  back  ripped  open  with  the  lash.  "Tut- 
tut,"  says  he,  "a  hundred  guineas  for  twa  lines  of  me 
ain  compaesin' — Extravagant,  Mr.  McLeod,  Sir!'* 

October  saw  Robertson  at  last  on  the  field  of  action 
— in  Athabasca.  "Well  may  the  Nor'Westers  boast 
of  success  in  the  North,"  he  writes.  "Not  an  Indian 
dare  speak  to  the  Hudson's  Bay.  At  Isle  a  la  Crosse, 
a  clerk  and  a  few  of  our  men  were  in  a  hut  surrounded 
by  the  sentinels  of  our  opponents.  Apart  from  no 
intercourse  with  the  Indians,  they  were  thankful  to 
be  able  to  procure  mere  subsistence  for  themselves. 
All  their  fish  nets  and  canoes  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  Nor'Westers  in  prowling  excursions.  The  only 
canoe  on  which  their  escape  depended  was  hidden 
in  a  bedroom.    No  Indian  dared  to  approach.    The 

209 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

windows  were  covered  by  damaged  table  cloths. 
•Wild  fowl  shot  flying  over  the  house  had  to  be 
plucked  with  the  door  shut.  .  .  .  Not  an  Indian 
could  be  found.  .  .  .  As  we  voyaged  up  to 
Athabasca,  we  began  firing  and  kept  our  men  sing- 
ing a  voyageur's  song  to  let  the  Indians  know  we 
were  passing."  Finally,  an  Indian  was  seen  hiding 
behind  brush  of  the  river  bank,  and  was  bribed  to 
go  and  bring  his  tribe.  The  truth  was  told  to  the 
Chippewyans  about  the  Nor'Westers'  defeat  on  Red 
River  and  Lake  Superior.  Peace  pipes  were  whiffed, 
and  a  treaty  made. 

The  consternation  of  the  Nor'Westers  when  they 
saw  Robertson,  anji  Clarke  whom  they  had  abused 
in  captivity  three  years  before,  now  draw  up  on  Ath- 
abasca Lake  before  Fort  Chippewyan  with  a  force 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  armed  men,  at  once  gave 
place  to  plots  for  the  ruin  of  the  intruders.  Black, 
who  had  been  the  chief  tormentor  of  Clarke,  dashed 
down  to  the  waterside  shouting:  "Mr.  Robertson! 
Mr.  Robertson!  To  avoid  trouble,  let  me  speak  to 
our  Indians  before  you  land !  You  are  an  honorable 
man — give  us  justice!" 

"Honorable,"  roared  the  indignant  Clarke,  shak- 
ing the  canoe  in  his  wrath.  "Justice  be  blanked! 
Did  you  give  us  justice  when  you  hounded  us  out  of 
Athabasca,"  and  he  followed  the  serenade  up  with 

2IO 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

a  volley  that  brought  the  whole  Northwest  Company 
to  the  shore. 

Before  trouble  could  brew,  Robertson  marshaled 
his  men  to  the  old  Hudson's  Bay  quarters,  and 
within  a  few  days  more  than  forty  Indian  tents  had 
deserted  from  the  Nor'Westers.  Clarke  was  sent  up 
Peace  River  for  the  winter.  Robertson  retained  a 
force  of  one  hundred  men  well  equipped  with  arms 
and  provisions  to  hold  the  fort  at  Lake  Athabasca. 
"We  had  completed  the  fitting  out  of  the  Indians," 
he  writes,  "established  our  fisheries  and  closed  the 
fall  business  when  the  loaded  canoes  of  the  North- 
west hunters  began  to  arrive.  Black,  the  Nor'- 
Wester,  is  now  in  his  glory,  leading  his  bullies.  Every 
evening  they  come  over  to  our  fort  in  a  body,  calling 
on  our  men  to  come  out  and  fight  pitched  battles. 
One  of  their  hair-pulling  bullies  got  his  challenge  ac- 
cepted and  an  unmerciful  thrashing  to  boot  from  a 
little  Frenchman  of  ours — Boucher.  Mr.  Simon  Mc- 
Gillivray,  the  chief  partner  of  the  Nor'Westers,who  is 
with  Mr.  McLeod,  was  rather  forward  on  this  occa- 
sion. Having  a  strong  force,  he  approached  too  near. 
I  ordered  our  men  to  arms  and  his  party  made  a  pre- 
cipitate retreat.  Our  men  are  in  high  spirits.  The 
Indians  have  regained  confidence  in  us  and  boldly  leave 
the  Nor'Westers  every  day  for  the  Hudson's  Bay." 

Now  that  their  winter  hunters  had  come  in,  and 

211 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

they  were  stronger,  the  Nor'Westers  were  not  to  be  so 
easily  routed  from  Athabasca.  Robertson's  next  let- 
ters are  dated  from  the  Nor'Westers'  fort.  He  had 
been  captured  within  ten  days  of  his  arrival.  ''You 
.  .  .  will  perceive  from  the  date  of  this  letter,  the 
great  reverse.  ...  If  I  were  the  only  sufferer  it 
might  be  borne,  but  when  I  reflect  on  the  conse- 
quences to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  to  Lord 
Selkirk,  it  almost  drives  me  mad.  .  .  .  On  the 
morning  of  the  nth  of  October,  about  an  hour  before 
day,  my  servant  entered  my  bedroom  and  informed 
me  a  canoe  had  just  arrived  with  the  body  of  a  fisher- 
man accidentally  shot  the  night  before. 
Sleep  was  out  of  the  question.  I  rose  and  ordered 
an  early  breakfast,  but  just  as  we  were  sitting  down 
one  of  the  men  entered  with  word  that  a  Northwest 
bully  had  come  and  was  daring  little  Boucher  to 
fight.  As  was  my  custom,  I  put  a  pistol  in  my 
pocket  and  going  toward  the  fellow  saw  ]\Ir.  Simon 
McGillivray,  the  Northwest  partner.  .  .  .  Just 
then  eight  or  ten  Nor'Westers  made  a  rush  from  con- 
cealment behind.  ...  It  was  all  a  trick.  .  .  . 
I  was  surrounded.  ...  In  the  struggle  my 
pistol  got  entangled  and  went  off.  ...  At  the 
sound,  they  rushed  on  me  and  dragged  me  to  the 
beach.  ...  I  freed  myself  and  laid  about  with 
my   empty   pistol.     .     .     .     When   thrown    in   the 

212 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

canoe,  I  tried  to  upset  and  escape  by  swimming,  but 
Black  put  a  pistol  to  my  head  till  we  arrived  at  the 
Nor'Westers'  fort.  .  .  .  Landing,  I  dashed  for 
their  Indian  Hall  and  at  once  .  .  .  called  on 
the  Indians,  representing  that  the  cowardly  attack 
was  an  efifort  to  reduce  them  to  slavery;  but  Black 
rushed  up  to  stop  me.  Seizing  a  fork  on  the  hall 
table  I  kept  the  vagabond  at  bay.  I  loaded  him  with 
every  abuse  and  evil  name  I  could  think  of,  then  to 
the  Indians:  *Do  not  abandon  the  Hudson's  Bay  on 
this  account!  There  are  brave  men  at  our  fort  to 
protect  you!  That  fellow  was  not  brave  enough  to 
seize  me;  he  stole  me,  and  he  would  now  rob  you 
of  your  hunt  if  it  were  not  for  the  young  men  I  have 
left  in  my  fort.  Tell  Clarke  not  to  be  discouraged. 
We  will  be  revenged  for  this,  but  not  like  wolves 
prowling  in  the  bushes.  We  will  capture  them  as 
we  captured  them  at  Fort  William,  with  the  sun  shin- 
ing on  our  faces.'  At  this  moment,  the  Indian  chief 
came  up  and  squeezing  my  hand,  whispered,  'Never 
mind,  white  man!  All  right!  We  are  your  friends.' 
.  .  .  This  closed  the  turbulent  scene.  .  .  . 
Figure  my  feelings  .  .  .  tumbled  by  an  act  of 
illegal  violence  from  the  summit  of  hope  .  .  . 
confidence  of  friends  withdrawn  ...  all  my 
prospects  for  life  blasted  .  .  .  mere  personal 
danger  is  secondary  now — I  am  in  despair." 

213 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Simon  McGillivray,  Black,  Mcintosh,  McLeod, 
in  a  word,  the  most  influential  partners  in  the  North- 
west Company  were  at  Fort  Chippewyan  when  Rob- 
ertson was  captured;  but  the  post  was  in  charge  of 
that  John  George  McTavish,  who  had  helped  to  trick 
Astor  out  of  his  fur  post  on  the  Columbia.  It  was 
probably  the  ruinous  lawsuits  against  the  Nor'- 
Westers  that  now  restrained  their  savage  followers 
from  carrying  out  their  threat  "to  scalp  Robertson 
and  feed  him  to  the  dogs,"  but  the  Hudson's  Bay 
leader  was  clapped  into  a  small  room  with  log  walls, 
under  guard  day  and  night.  He  was  compelled  to 
state  his  simplest  wants  in  a  formal  daily  letter.  Pen 
and  paper,  the  clothes  on  his  back,  a  jack-knife  in 
his  pocket — that  was  Robertson's  entire  parapher- 
nalia during  his  captivity;  but  for  all  that,  he  out- 
witted the  enemy.  One  of  his  written  requests  was 
that  a  Nor'Wester  go  across  to  the  Hudson's  Bay 
fort  under  flag  of  truce  for  a  supply  of  liquor.  The 
Nor'Westers  were  delighted  at  the  chance  to  spy  on 
the  Hudson's  Bay  fort,  and  doubly  delighted  at  the 
prospect  of  their  captive  fuddling  himself  hors  de 
combat  with  drink.  It  was  an  easy  trick  to  give  a 
rival  his  quietus  with  whiskey. 

Taking  long  strips  of  writing  paper,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  man  invented  a  cipher  code  in  numbers  from 
one  to  six  hundred,  some  well  known  trading  phrase 

214 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

placed  opposite  each  number.  This  he  rolled  like 
a  spool,  so  tight  it  was  waterproof,  sealed  each  end 
with  wax,  knocked  the  bung  out  of  the  whiskey  barrel, 
bored  a  tiny  hole  beside  the  bung  with  his  jackknife, 
hooked  a  piece  of  twine  through  one  end  to  the  sealed 
message,  the  other  to  the  inner  end  of  the  plug,  thrust 
the  paper  inside  the  liquor  and  plugged  up  the  hole. 
Then  dusting  all  over  with  mud  from  the  floor  of  the 
cabin,  he  complained  the  whiskey  was  musty — 
diluted  with  rum.  He  requested  that  it  be  sent  back 
with  orders  for  his  men  to  cleanse  the  barrel.  Before 
sending  it  back,  the  Nor'Westers  actually  sealed  the 
barrel  "contents  unknown."  But  what  was  Rob- 
ertson's disgust  when  the  men  of  the  fort  instead  of 
cleansing  this  barrel,  sent  back  a  fresh  one! 

Again  he  put  his  wits  to  work.  Sending  for  a 
volume  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  he  wrote  in  fine  pencil 
opposite  Falstaff's  name:  "Examine — the — first — 
keg."  The  messenger,  who  went  for  the  weekly 
supply,  carried  the  Shakespeare  back  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  fort.  A  week  passed.  No  sign  came  from  his 
men.  Exasperated  to  the  point  of  risk,  Robertson 
tried  a  last  expedient.  The  next  week,  the  messenger 
carried  an  open  letter  to  Robertson's  men.  It  was 
inspected  by  his  captors  but  allowed  to  pass.  It 
read:  "To  amuse  myself,  I  am  trying  to  throw  into 
verse  some  of  Falstaff's  good  sayings.    There  is  one 

215 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

expression  where  he  blows  out,  'I  am  not  a  wit  but 
the  cause  of  wit  in  others.'  This  sounds  harsh. 
Please  send  exact  words  as  in  the  play."  No  doubt 
the  Northwest  partners  thought  poor  Robertson  far 
gone  with  liquor  when  he  took  to  versifying.  Back 
came  word  with  the  week's  supplies,  stating  that  the 
volume  of  Shakespeare  had  been  carried  off  to  the 
fishery  by  one  of  the  traders;  but  "would  Mr.  Rob- 
ertson please  let  his  men  know  if  he  wished  the  fol- 
lowing traders  to  have  the  following  supplies" — a 
string  of  figures  conveying  the  joyful  news  that  the 
cypher  had  been  found;  the  Hudson's  Bay  fort  was 
on  guard  against  surprise;  the  men  were  in  good 
spirits;   the  Indians  loyal;   all  things  prosperous. 

For  eight  months  a  prisoner  in  a  small  room,  Rob- 
ertson directed  the  men  of  his  own  fort  by  means  of 
the  whiskey  kegs,  sending  word  of  all  secrets  he  could 
learn  in  the  enemy's  camp,  checkmating  every  move 
of  the  Nor'Westers  among  the  Indians.  In  vain,  he 
urged  his  followers  to  sally  out  and  rescue  him.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  traders  were  not  willing  to  risk  an- 
other such  massacre  as  on  Red  River.  Immunity 
bred  carelessness.  In  the  month  of  May  a  Nor'- 
Wester,  spying  through  crevices  of  the  logs,  caught 
Robertson  sealing  up  the  bung  in  the  whiskey  keg. 
Swords  and  pistol  in  hand,  the  angry  partners  burst 
into  the  room  with  torrents  of  abuse  that  Robertson 

216 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

was  quite  able  to  return.  He  was  too  dangerous  a 
man  to  keep  prisoner.  The  Nor'Westers  decided  to 
ship  him  out  of  the  country  on  pain  of  assassination  if 
he  dared  to  return.  No  doubt  Robertson  smiled. 
His  own  coureurs  had  long  since  been  sent  speeding 
over  prairie  and  swamp  for  Red  River  to  warn  the 
Hudson's  Bay  governor,  Williams,  to  catch  the  North- 
west fur  brigade  when  the  canoes  would  be  running 
the  rapids  of  the  Saskatchewan  in  June. 

Of  the  forty  Nor'Westers  conducting  the  June 
brigade  to  Montreal,  half  a  dozen  were  directors. 
"I  was  embarked  with  Simon  McGillivray,"  Rob- 
ertson writes.  "At  Isle  a  la  Crosse  .  .  .  seeing 
the  strong  rapids  before  us,  I  threw  off  my  cloak 
as  was  my  custom  when  running  rapids.  .  .  . 
What  was  my  horror  when  I  perceived  our  canoe 
swept  out  of  its  track  into  a  shute  over  the  rocks. 
.  .  .  Our  steersman  shouted,  'My  God,  we  are 
all  lost.'  .  .  .  The  canoe  upset.  .  .  .  I  at- 
tempted to  swim  ashore  but  the  strong  eddies  drew 
me  under  the  falls  where  I  found  Mr.  Simon  Mc- 
Gillivray and  two  or  three  others  clinging  to  the 
gun'els  of  the  canoe.  .  .  .  The  canoe  swept  on 
down  the  current  and  Mr.  Shaw,  one  of  the  partners, 
caught  us  below."  What  was  almost  an  escape 
through  an  accident  evidently  suggested  to  Robert- 
son's mind  that  it  was  not  absolutely  necessary  he 

217 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

should  be  deported  out  of  the  country  against  his 
will.  At  Cumberland  House,  where  the  brigade 
camped  for  a  night,  there  was  a  Hudson's  Bay  as 
well  as  a  Northwest  post.  Robertson  asked  leave  to 
say  good-by  to  his  old  friends,  but  no  sooner  was 
he  inside  the  gates  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  post  than 
bolts  were  shot  and  every  man  of  the  ten  inside  the 
palisades,  armed  ready  to  fire  if  the  Nor' Westers 
approached.  *'I  have  escaped,"  he  writes,  "but  not 
agreeable  to  my  feelings.  .  .  .  However  my 
friends  may  applaud  the  act,  my  conscience  tells  me 
1  have  not  done  right  in  breaking  my  parole.  .  .  . 
However,  it  is  all  over  now.  ...  At  half  past 
ten  in  the  morning;  the  Northwest  canoes  pushed 
off  from  the  beach  without  me." 

Where  the  Saskatchewan  empties  into  Lake  Win- 
nipeg are  rough  ledges  of  rock  known  as  Grand 
Rapids.  Here,  it  was  usual  to  lighten  loads,  passen- 
gers landing  to  walk  across  the  portage,  the  voyageurs 
running  the  canoes  down  full  swirl  to  a  camp  below 
the  rapids.  Robertson  knew  that  Williams,  the 
Hudson's  Bay  governor  from  Red  River,  would  be 
waiting  for  the  Northwest  brigade  at  this  point. 
Barely  had  his  captors'  canoes  paddled  away  from 
Cumberland  House,  when  Robertson  launched  out 
on  their  trail  far  enough  behind  to  escape  notice, 
bound  for  the  exciting  rendezvous  of  Grand  Rapids. 

218 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

"In  paddling  along,"  he  writes,  "we  were  suddenly 
interrupted  with  a  shout  'Canoe  ahead!'  .  .  . 
A  shot  was  fired.  .  .  .  We  arranged  our  pistols. 
The  canoe  was  plainly  approaching  us.  What  shall 
be  done?  If  these  are  enemies,  the  water  is  the 
safest  place  for  defense.  It  was  a  moment  of 
anxiety.  As  the  canoe  came  nearer,  a  stranger  stood 
up,  waved  his  hat  and  shouted,  'Glorious  news! 
Five  North- West  partners  captured  at  Grand  Rapids 
— Shaw,  Mcintosh,  Campbell,  McTavish  and  Fro- 
bisher  taken!  I  am  sent  to  meet  Mr.  Robertson!* 
We  at  once  shaped  our  course  to  the  canoe  when  our 
voyageurs  struck  up  a  song  the  men  of  both  canoes 
yelling  a  cheer  at  each  chorus."  At  eleven  on  the 
morning  of  July  30th,  Robertson  crossed  the  portage 
of  Grand  Rapids.  He  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  stirring  scene.  Strung  across  the  river  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids  were  barges  mounted  with  swivels. 
On  the  bank  lay  the  entire  year's  output  of  Athabasca 
furs,  the  poor  French  voyageurs  huddling  together, 
the  loudest  bully  cowed;  and  apart  from  the  camp 
in  the  windowless  lodge  of  an  old  French  hunter, 
were  the  captured  Northwest  partners  surrounded 
by  the  guard  of  a  hundred  De  Meuron  soldiers 
under  Governor  Williams.  This  was  a  turning  of 
the  tables  with  a  vengeance.  As  Williams  blurted 
out  in  a  gasconade  striding   forward   to  welcome 

219 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Robertson,  "two  could  play  at  the  capturing  busi- 
ness." 

And  a  sorry  thing  "the  capturing  business"  proved. 
Robertson  does  not  give  any  details.  He  is  evidently 
both  ashamed  of  the  episode  and  sorry;  but  the  ac- 
count is  found  in  the  journals  of  the  Nor'Westers. 
Anxious  to  rescue  Robertson,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
governor  had  his  barges  strung  across  the  river  and 
his  soldiers  in  ambush  along  the  trail  of  the  portage, 
when  the  unsuspecting  Athabasca  brigade,  laden 
with  furs  to  the  water  line,  glided  down  the  Saskatch- 
ewan. The  canoes  arrived  in  three  detachments  on 
the  i8th,  and  20th,  and  30th  of  June.  Rapids  be- 
hind and  pointed  swivels  before,  the  voyageurs  were 
easy  victims,  surrendering  to  the  soldiers  at  once.  It 
was  another  matter  with  the  partners.  Both  Hud- 
son's Bay  and  Nor'Westers  knew  these  lawless  raids 
would  be  condemned  by  the  courts;  but  each  side 
also  knew  if  it  could  capture  and  hold  the  other  out 
of  the  Athabasca  for  a  single  year,  the  excluded  rival 
would  be  ruined. 

Frobisher  and  Campbell,  accompanie'd  by  two  serv- 
ants, were  the  first  partners  to  set  out  across  the 
portage.  Half  way  over,  a  movement  in  the  grass 
caught  their  attention,  and  before  they  could  speak 
they  were  surrounded  by  fifteen  Hudson's  Bay 
soldiers  with  pointed  bayonets.     Frobisher  was  a 

220 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

man  of  enormous  strength  and  violent  temper.  No 
Nor'Wester  had  exercised  more  wanton  cruelty  over 
Hudson's  Bay  captives  than  he.  As  he  saw  him- 
self suddenly  looking  into  the  barrel  of  a  Hudson's 
Bay  gun,  he  had  involuntarily  knocked  aside  the 
muzzle  and  doubled  his  fist  for  a  blow,  when  sharp 
bayonet  prods  in  the  small  of  his  back  sent  him  along 
the  path  at  a  run.  The  other  partners  as  they  came 
were  captured  in  the  same  summary  way.  Cooped 
up  in  the  hunter's  lodge  at  the  foot  of  the  rapids, 
they  demanded  of  Governor  Williams  his  warrant  for 
such  proceedings. 

"Warrant?"  roared  the  Hudson's  Bay  governor. 
"What  warrant  had  you  when  you  held  Robertson 
captive  all  last  winter  in  Athabasca?  What  warrant 
had  you  for  flogging  Clarke  out  of  the  country  two 
years  ago?  Talk  to  me  of  your  Royal  Proclama- 
tions of  peace!  I  don't  care  a  curse  for  your  royal 
proclamations.  I  rely  on  the  charter  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company.    Your  governor  of  Canada  is  a 

d rascal !    He  is  bribed  by  your  Northwest  gold ! 

Warrants — indeed!    Warrants  are  d nonsense 

in  this  country!  Out  of  this  country  you  go.  I'll 
drive  out  every  Nor'Wester  or  die  in  the  attempt." 
In  the  midst  of  the  tornado,  some  excitement  arose 
from  Mcintosh,  a  Northwest  partner,  who  was  ill 
and  had  run  the  rapids  with  his  canoemen,  jumping 

221 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

overboard  and  trying  to  swim  ashore.  Two  Hud- 
son's Bay  canoemen  pursued,  caught  him  by  the 
scruff  of  the  neck  and  towed  him  ashore.  Satisfied 
that  he  had  captured  all  the  partners  in  this  brigade, 
Williams  at  once  released  the  clerks  and  voyageurs 
with  their  cargoes  of  furs  to  proceed  to  Montreal. 
As  the  canoemen  walked  out  of  the  hunter's  cabin 
past  the  sentry,  Frobisher  beside  himself  with  rage 
at  the  governor's  rating — attempted  to  follow.  He 
was  clubbed  to  the  ground.  He  hurled  the  full  force 
of  his  herculean  strength  at  his  assailant.  This  time, 
the  gun-stock  struck  him  on  the  head.  It  is  said  from 
that  moment  he  became  so  violently  insane  that  he 
had  to  be  kept  under  guard  of  two  personal  servants, 
Turcotte  and  Lepine.  During  the  week  that  Wil- 
liams waited  at  Grand  Rapids  for  the  coming  of  Rob- 
ertson, the  Northwest  captives  were  kept  on  an  island 
in  midstream,  forbidden  even  to  leave  their  tent.  One 
night,  the  partner  Mcintosh,  succeeded  in  rolling 
himself  out  under  the  tent  flap  to  the  rear.  Crawling 
to  that  side  of  the  island  farthest  from  the  sentries, 
he  bound  two  or  three  floating  logs  together  in  a  raft 
and  with  a  dead  branch  as  a  sweep,  succeeded  in 
escaping  across  the  river.  When  he  was  missed  in 
the  morning,  William,  the  Hudson's  Bay  governor, 
ordered  his  Indian  scouts  out  "to  take  Mcintosh  dead 
or  alive,"  but  Indian  friends  faithfully  concealed  the 

222 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

Nor'Wester.     He  was  recaptured  by  force  the  next 
winter. 

When  Colin  Robertson  came  down  the  Saskatche- 
wan in  his  canoe  on  the  30th  of  June,  instead  of  being 
a  prisoner  as  he  had  expected,  he  was  one  of  a  party 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  Hudson's  Bay  men  to  con- 
duct the  captured  Northwest  partners  across  Lake 
Winnipeg  to  Norway  House.  Here,  Robertson  re- 
mained. Governor  Williams  took  the  prisoners  on 
to  York  Factory  on  Hudson's  Bay.  The  question 
was — what  to  do  with  the  prisoners?  At  any  cost, 
they  must  be  kept  out  of  Athabasca.  That  would 
effect  the  ruin  of  the  Northwest  Company  in  a  year, 
but  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  would  not  thank 
Williams  for  landing  them  in  any  more  lawsuits  by 
illegal  acts,  and  they  could  not  be  taken  to  Montreal. 
Shaw  and  Campbell  and  McTavish— the  same  Mc- 
Tavish  who  had  sent  Astor's  men  packing  from  the 
Columbia — were  treated  as  prisoners  of  honor  in 
the  main  house  of  York  Fort  at  Hudson's  Bay  and 
allowed  to  exercise  on  the  lead  roof  of  the  building. 
On  the  30th  of  August  came  Franklin,  the  explorer, 
with  letters  of  introduction  to  both  Northwest  and 
Hudson's  Bay  traders.  It  was  suggested  by  Frank- 
lin that  the  Northwest  partners  be  sent  home  to 
England  by  the  boat  that  had  brought  him  out. 
Shaw  and  McTavish  sailed  as  steerage  passengers. 

223 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Campbell  chose  to  go  down  to  the  end  of  James  Bay 
and  overland  to  Canada,  where  the  story  of  his  ad- 
ventures ran  like  wildfire;  but  the  Hudson's  Bay 
governor  went  back  to  the  interior  without  leaving 
any  instructions  as  to  Frobisher.  Either  the  Com- 
pany would  not  forgive  his  cruel  treatment  of  Hud- 
son's Bay  servants,  or  it  was  unsafe  to  release  him 
in  his  violent  condition.  He  was  confined  in  a 
dilapidated  outhouse  where  rain  formed  pools  of 
water  on  the  mud  floor,  with  no  protection  against 
the  cold  but  the  clothes  on  his  back  and  a  three- 
point  blanket.  With  him  were  the  servants,  Tur- 
cotte  and  Lepine.  His  violent  ravings  and  maniacal 
struggles  gradually  gave  place  to  a  great  depression. 
A  servant  of  the  fort  took  pity  on  the  three  prisoners 
and  began  smuggling  extra  rations  at  night  through 
the  iron-barred  window. 

From  this  time,  Benjamin  Frobisher  planned  a 
desperate  escape,  saving  at  the  cost  of  physical 
strength  food  from  their  daily  allowance  for  the  in- 
land voyage.  His  men  expostulated.  A  voyage  in- 
land so  late  meant  certain  death.  It  was  a  pitch 
dark  night  on  the  30th  of  September.  Frobisher 
and  his  men  broke  gaol,  coaxed  the  friendly  Hud- 
son's Bay  man  to  give  them  three  extra  pairs  of  moc- 
casins and  mits,  picked  up  an  old  fish  net,  with  a 
piece  of  deerskin  to  act  as  tent,  and  clambered  over 

224 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

the  palisades.  Winter  had  set  in  early.  The  rain- 
swollen  river  was  cold  as  ice,  but  in  the  three  emaci- 
ated fugitives  plunged,  and  swam  to  the  far  shore 
where  there  chanced  to  rock  an  old  canoe.  With 
the  help  of  the  tide,  they  made  ten  miles  that  night. 
Frobisher  began  to  recover  courage,  singing  wildly 
and  paddling  buoyant  as  a  school  boy,  irresponsible 
as  a  maniac.  Hudson's  Bay  fur  brigades  were  still 
passing  down  the  river.  The  three  Nor'Westers 
passed  these  at  night  with  muffled  paddles,  keeping 
to  the  far  side  of  the  stream.  At  intervals  were 
abandoned  hunter's  cabins.  Here,  the  three  would 
take  refuge  for  a  night,  leaving  their  net  set  in  the 
river  for  fish.  The  pemmican  saved  from  the  allow- 
ance at  the  fort  and  the  fish  caught  at  night  were 
the  only  food.  By  the  19th  of  October,  they  had 
passed  the  Hudson's  Bay  post,  now  called  Oxford 
House,  half  way  between  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Sas- 
katchewan. The  nights  now  became  bitterly  cold, 
and  there  were  no  more  old  lodges — only  a  wind- 
break made  of  the  canoe  and  the  deerskin.  Frob- 
isher had  become  apparently  quite  sane,  but  provi- 
sions were  running  low,  and  he  was  visibly  feebler 
each  day. 

The  river  here  widened  to  a  labryinth  of  winding 
lakes,  and  the  men  kept  losing  themselves,  missing 
in  the  blinding  rains  the  poles  stuck  up  here  and 

225 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

there  to  mark  the  way.  They  were  wasting  time, 
and  it  was  a  race  against  death.  When  they  arose  on 
October  23rd,  six  inches  of  snow  lay  on  the  ground, 
and  shore  ice  was  so  thick  they  could  not  break  it 
with  their  paddles.  The  canoe  had  to  be  left  behind 
and  the  march  continued  by  land.  At  the  end  of 
that  week,  there  were  only  two  pounds  of  pemmican 
left,  and  the  men  begged  Frobisher  to  give  himself 
up  at  the  Hudson's  Bay  post  of  Norway  House  near 
Lake  Winnipeg,  but  Frobisher  bade  them  push  on. 
There  would  be  Indians  at  Lake  Winnipeg.  By  a 
curious  perversity  of  weather,  a  thaw  now  came, 
and  they  found  themselves  at  Lake  Winnipeg  before 
open  water  without  a  canoe.  Whether  they  waited 
here  with  an  Indian  camp  until  the  ice  would  bear 
them,  or  followed  the  north  shore  of  the  lake  on 
foot,  cannot  be  told  from  Frobisher's  disjointed 
journal.  Their  moccasins  were  worn  to  shreds, 
their  feet  bleeding,  their  only  food  the  bit  of  deer- 
skin and  tatters  of  buffalo  hide  stuck  up  on  the 
bushes  as  trail  marks  by  the  Indians.  Staggering 
through  snow  and  water  to  their  waists,  tripped  and 
tangled  by  windfall,  losing  themselves  in  the  autumn 
storms,  the  three  men  were  now  barely  conscious. 
About  the  third  week  of  November,  Frobisher  could 
walk  no  farther,  and  the  brave  Half-breeds,  who 
could  have  saved  their  own  lives  by  deserting  him 

226 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

long  ago,  carried  him  by  turns  on  their  backs.  Such 
conduct  needs  no  comment.  On  the  20th  of  No- 
vember, they  were  only  two  days  from  the  first  North- 
west post  on  the  Saskatchewan.  With  a  last  flicker- 
ing gleam  of  reason,  Frobisher  reahzed  the  only  hope 
was  for  the  men  to  leave  him  and  get  help.  "For 
God's  sake,"  he  penciled  on  a  slip  of  paper,  "lose  not 
a  moment  to  relieve  me,"  and  he  ordered  Turcotte 
and  Lepine  to  carry  this  to  the  Northwest  post  on 
the  Saskatchewan.  They  kindled  fire  for  him  and 
left  him  broiling  a  piece  of  the  old  deerskin  for  food ; 
but  the  men  were  so  feeble  they  made  poor  progress. 
It  was  four  days  before  they  reached  the  fort,  having 
actually  eaten  their  leather  clothing  and  crawled  the 
last  day's  travel.  The  two  Half-breeds  arrived  de- 
lirious. It  was  three  days  more  before  messengers 
reached  Frobisher's  camp.  His  lifeless  body  was 
found  lying  across  the  ashes  of  the  fire.  So  perished 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Great  Northwest  Com- 
pany— the  victim  of  his  own  policy  of  lawless  vio- 
lence. 

But  a  life  more  or  less  was  not  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  fur  trade.  The  very  next  winter,  Colin  Rob- 
ertson was  back  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  fur  brigade 
on  the  Saskatchewan  and  Athabasca,  pushing  the 
traders  over  the  mountains  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 
"Opponents  have  given  us  no  trouble,"  he  writes, ' 

22y 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northivest 

"but  starvation  nearly  forced  us  to  abandon  the 
country.  From  November  to  February,  I  lived  on 
dried  berries  and  water  v^ith  flour."  Letters  record 
how  at  one  post  famine  compelled  the  Hudson's 
Bay  men  to  surrender  to  the  Nor' Westers;  how  at 
another,  Black,  "the  Northwest  bully,"  was  cud- 
gelled from  his  post  by  Hudson's  Bay  partisans.  So 
the  merry  play  went  on  with  these  dare-devil  game- 
sters of  the  wilderness  till  in  the  spring  of  1820,  bring- 
ing the  fur  brigade  down  the  Saskatchewan,  Rob- 
ertson found  the  tables  reversed.  The  gamesters 
were  again  playing  with  loaded  dice.  "The  Nor'- 
Westers  have  assembled  to  catch  us  at  Grand 
Rapids,"  he  writes.  "What  defense  can  be  ex- 
pected from  our  sixty  men  worn  down  by  hunger? 
This  is  returning  the  blow  with  a  vengeance.  .  .  . 
I  told  Mr.  Miles,  my  assistant,  all  was  not  right  at 
Grand  Rapids.  The  governor  was  not  there  to  pro- 
tect our  passing.  .  .  .  We  hid  the  Company's 
papers  in  a  pemmican  sack  between  beef  and  fat.  If 
no  scouts  came  back,  either  our  spies  were  seized,  or 
the  Grand  Rapids  were  clear  and  the  passage  free. 
.  .  .  Passing  a  sleepless  night,  we  embarked  at 
daybreak,  descended  the  current  slowly,  passed  to 
the  north  bank  .  .  .  then  asked  my  guide  to 
run  the  rapids  without  the  men  disembarking.  This 
he  positively  refused  to  do,  saying  he  would  not  ven- 

228 


Both  Comjmnics  Make  a  Dash 

lure  the  rapids  unless  the  men  got  out  and  each 
carried  a  pack  to  lighten  the  canoe.  .  .  .  So  we 
began  to  cross  the  portage  and  had  nearly  reached 
the  end  when  a  large  party  of  Half-breeds  and  Indians 
started  from  concealment,  armed.  .  .  .  A  North- 
west agent  snatched  my  gun  .  .  .  my  men  hesi- 
tated whether  to  come  to  the  rescue,  but  I  signalled 
them  to  be  off  and  escape  in  the  canoes." 

The  Nor' Wester  who  had  captured  Robertson, 
was  the  same  J.  D.  Campbell  captured  at  this  very 
place  and  sent  down  to  Hudson's  Bay  with  Robert- 
son's aid  two  years  before.  Fortunately,  this  North- 
west partner  was  deadly  tired  of  the  policy  of  gas- 
conading violence.  He  told  Robertson  frankly  he 
must  either  sign  an  oath  never  to  return  to  Athabasca, 
or  go  a  prisoner  to  Montreal.  "  I  gave  the  fellow  one 
look  of  perfect  contempt,"  writes  Robertson.  On 
his  way  down  to  Montreal,  he  succeeded  in  borrow- 
ing a  few  dollars  from  a  friendly  passer-by.  At 
Wright's  Farm,  near  the  present  city  of  Ottawa,  the 
brigade  was  ordered  to  rest  for  some  days.  Robert- 
son knew  it  was  only  to  enable  constables  to  come  up 
from  Montreal  to  arrest  him.  When  the  order  was 
given  to  embark,  he  seized  a  biscuit  (his  enemies  say 
a  crow-bar)  and  hurling  it  in  the  face  of  the  North- 
west partner,  leveled  his  pistol  and  dared  the  whole 
company  to  take  him.    The  Northwesters  did  not 

229 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

accept  the  challenge.  They  no  doubt  knew  as  Rob- 
ertson says,  "that  most  of  the  constables  in  Montreal 
were  out  after  me."  After  a  few  days'  rest  at  the  way- 
side inn,  the  doughty  Hudson's  Bay  fighter  rode  like 
mad  for  American  territory,  pausing  only  to  change 
horses  at  Montreal.  "The  night  was  dark.  The 
rain  fell  in  torrents.  A  faithful  friend  rode  before 
day  and  night  all  the  way.  ...  At  three  in  the 
morning    ...     we  reached  Plattsburg." 

On  the  way  to  Montreal,  Robertson  had  heard 
that  the  Nor' Westers  were  about  to  propose  a  union 
with  the  Hudson's  Bay,  and  he  judged  that  he  could 
serve  his  Company  best  by  hurrying  to  London  and 
pressing  on  the  General  Court  the  fact  that  the 
country  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  traders  without  any  union.  What  was  his 
amazement  on  taking  ship  at  New  York  to  find  as 
fellow  passengers  two  Northwest  partners,  Bethune 
and  McLoughlin,  now  on  the  way  to  London  to  urge 
the  union.  "Hunting  bees'  wings  in  their  cham- 
pagne glasses,"  as  Robertson  describes  their  post- 
prandial talks,  the  two  Nor'Westers  actually  asked 
Robertson  to  introduce  them  to  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  but  the  feud  lasted  to  the  end  of  the  voy- 
age. "Wine  went  round  freely  and  subscriptions 
were  opened  for  the  ship's  hands,"  writes  Robertson. 
"Our  friend,  the  Nor' Wester,  Dr.  McLoughKn,  had 

230 


Both  Companies  Make  a  Dash 

put  down  his  name.  I  took  the  pen  to  put  mine 
down,  but  seeing  Bethune,  the  other  Nor'Wester, 
waiting,  said  to  Abbe  Carriere: 

"'Come  Abbe,  put  down. your  name.  I  don't 
want  to  sign  between  two  Nor' Westers.' 

'"Never  mind,  Robertson,'  says  the  Abbe,  'Christ 
was  crucified  between  two  thieves.' 

"McLoughHn  flew  in  a  dreadful  passion,  but  being 
a  good  Catholic,  had  to  stomach  it." 

As  the  world  knows,  the  embassy  of  the  Nor'- 
Westers  was  successful.  The  two  companies  w^re 
united,  and  the  aforetime  bitter  rivals  returned  to 
serve  the  Hudson's  Bay  for  many  a  year  as  faithful 
friends  and  loyal  partners. 

Over  the  united  companies  there  was  appointed 
as  governor  in  America,  George  Simpson,  who  had 
been  sent  as  clerk  to  Athabasca,  quietly, to  observe 
the  true  state  of  affairs. 

Notes  on  Chapter  XXIX. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are 
taken  from  Robertson's  letters  to  the  directors  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company — some  two  hundred  foolscap  pages  (manuscript). 
Frobisher's  death  is  given  in  the  Masson  Collection  of  N.  W.  C. 
Journals. 

The  terms  of  union  of  the  two  companies  as  given  in  the 
H.  B,  C.  Minutes  of  March  20,  1821,  were  in  brief  as  follows: 
Present  at  the  General  Court:  Joseph  Berens,  Gov.;  John 
Pelly,  Deputy;  Thos.  Langlois,  Benj.  Harrison,  Andrew  Col- 
ville,  Thomas  Pitt,  Nicholas  Garry,  Wm.  Smith,  Simon  Mc- 
Gillivrav,  Edward  Ellice,  Jno.  Liebenwood,  Wm.  Thwaytes, 
Robt.  Whitehead,  M.  P.  Lucas,  Alex.  Lean. 

The  Governor  laid  before  the  court  draft  of  agreement  pro- 
posed between  the  Adventurers  of  England  on  the  one  part  and 

231 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


Wm.  McGillivray,  Simon  McGillivray,  Edward  Ellice  on  the 
second  part,  in  behalf  of  the  N.  W.  C,  by  which  deed  it  was 
agreed  to  unite  the  whole  fur  trade  carried  on  into  one  concern 
from  the  first  day  of  June  next,  the  said  H.  B.  C.  and  N.  W.  C. 
to  find  an  equal  share  of  capital  and  to  divide  the  profits  and 
losses  for  the  term  of  21  years.  .  .  .  ;i£i 50,000  of  the  sd. 
joint  stock  apportioned  am-ong  holders  of  H.  B.  C.  stock  in  pro- 
portion to  their  respective  interests,  and  £100,000  apportioned 
to  the  N.  W.  C. 

Nicholas  Garry  was  appointed  to  go  out  with  Simpson  and 
reorganize  the  united  companies.  With  them  as  representing 
the  N.  W.  C.  went  Simon  McGillivray. 

Most  of  the  actors  mentioned  in  the  episodes  of  this  chapter 
retired  to  become  great  nabobs  in  Montreal.  The  McGillivrays 
bought  an  estate  in  Scotland.  Robertson  served  the  H.  B.  C. 
for  many  years.  John  Clarke  became  a  magnate  of  the  Mon- 
treal aristocracy  and  was  to  be  seen  driving  John  Jacob  Astor 
every  time  the  American  came  to  Montreal.  Those  men,  who 
did  not  retire  to  Montreal,  went  to  Red  River  or  the  Oregon. 
Among  those  going  to  the  Columbia  were:  McLoughlin,  Ogden, 
McKay,  Ermatinger.  Just  as  this  volume  went  to  press,  the 
widow  of  John  Clarke,  who  is  still  living  at  a  very  advanced  age 
in  Montreal,  and  her  daughter,  Miss  Adele  Clarke,  issued  a  small 
brochure  of  recollections  of  the  old  days  in  Montreal — a  rare  little 
treatise  with  a  flavor  of  old  wine. 

The  gross  sales  of  the  H.  B.  C.  from  the  time  Athabasca  was 
successfully  invaded,  ran  up  from  ;£2,ooo  a  year  to  £68,261. 

The  cost  of  Robertson's  first  Expedition  to  Athabasca  is 
given  in  the  minutes  as  £20,000 — sheer  loss. 

George  Simpson  went  out  at  a  salary  of  £600,  with  £400  for 
traveling  expenses.  He  was  the  first  governor  to  enter  Red 
River  by  way  of  Montreal. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1820-21  that  Robertson  and  the 
Nor' Westers  went  to  London.  The  company  voted  £1,000  to 
Robertson  21  Feb.,  182 1,  as  reward  for  his  success,  and  granted 
him  21  shillings  a  day  for  expenses  and  £50  passage  money 
back  to  Montreal. 


232 


PART  IV 

1821-1871 

The  Passing  of  the  Company^McLoughlin's 
Transmontane  Empire  of  Oregon,  Washington, 
Idaho,  Montana,  Nevada,  Utah,  California — The 
Famous  Mountain  Brigades — How  the  Company 
Lost  Oregon — Why  the  Chartered  Monopoly  Was 
Relinquished. 


f 


CHAPTER  XXX 
1821-1830 

TiECONSTRUCnON  CONTINUED — NICHOLAS  GARRY, 
THE  DEPUTY  GOVERNOR,  COMES  OUT  TO  REOR- 
GANIZE THE  UNITED  COMPANIES  —  MORE  COLO- 
NISTS FROM  SWITZERLAND — THE  ROCKY  MOUN- 
TAIN BRIGADES — ROSS  OF  OKANOGAN. 

IT  FELL  to  Nicholas  Garry  to  come  out  and 
reorganize  the  united  traders,  because  he 
chanced  to  be  the  only  unmarried  man  on 
the  Governing  Committee.  The  task  was  not  easy. 
Bitter  hatreds  must  be  harmonized.  Indians  must 
be  conciliated.  Fire-eaters  must  be  transferred  to 
new  districts,  where  old  animosities  would  be  un- 
known. Williams,  the  swashbuckler  governor,  must 
be  replaced  by  George  Simpson,  the  tactful  man  of 
business.  Necessarily,  a  great  many  officers  must 
be  displaced  altogether  from  both  the  old  Companies. 
It  was  not  desirable  that  Garry  should  come  out 
with  active  partisans  of  either  Company.  Bethune 
and  Simon  McGillivray  and  Doctor  McLoughlin — 
the  Nor'Westers — and  Colin  Robertson,  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  man,  all  arrived  at  Montreal  by  different 
routes  and  took  passage  to  Fort  William  by  different 

235 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

canoes.  So  eager  were  the  partisans,  Garry  was  met 
in  New  York  by  such  well-known  Nor'Westers  as 
Judge  Ogden,  and  such  well-known  Hudson's  Bay 
agents  as  Auddjo,  the  Company's  lawyer.  Leaving 
Montreal,  Garry  proceeded  up  the  Ottawa  in  a 
canoe  followed  by  Robertson  and  Simon  McGillivray 
— all  bound  for  Fort  William,  where  the  partners 
would  sign  the  deed  of  union  and  Garry  re-arrange 
the  positions  of  the  officers.  At  Long  Sault  the 
canoes  passed  the  house  of  Red  River's  first  gov- 
ernor— Miles  MacDonell — now  mentally  a  wreck 
from  the  terrible  struggle.  Frobisher  dead  of  star- 
vation, Selkirk  of  a  broken  heart.  Sir  Alexander 
MacKenzie  of  ills  contracted  through  exposure  in 
the  wilds,  Miles  MacDonell  out  of  his  mind — men 
of  both  sides  had  paid  a  deadly  toll  for  mistakes  and 
wrongs.  Ottawa  City  when  Garry  passed  West,  in 
1 82 1,  consisted  solely  of  Wright's  farm  at  Hull.  At 
the  Sault  was  David  Thompson,  surveying  boun- 
daries for  the  government.  Then  Garry's  canoe 
landed  him  safely  at  Fort  William,  where  the  deed 
of  union  was  signed  that  extinguished  the  lawless 
glory  of  that  famous  place.  Then  with  partners 
assembled,  old  enemies  glaring  at  each  other  across 
the  table,  the  tactful  George  Simpson  doing  his  best 
to  help  to  suppress  the  ill-concealed  hatred  of  former 
rivals,  both  sides  proceeded  to  distribute  the  officers. 

236 


Reconstruction  Continued 


"The  comfortable  districts  were  set  aside  for 
friends  of  the  N.  W.  C,"  declared  the  discontented 
Robertson,  failing  to  see  that  his  very  loyalty  to  the 
old  Company  stood  in  the  way  of  his  promotion. 
"It  never  occurred  to  the  new  concern  that  such  men 
as  John  Clarke  and  Colin  Robertson  were  in  exis- 
tence. One  cannot  but  admire  the  staunchness  of 
these  old  Northwest  partners.  They  are  parting 
from  life-long  friends.  The  N.  W.  C.  have  gained  a 
complete  victory  for  the  best  places.  John  George 
McTavish  becomes  superintendent  of  York.  Mc- 
Loughlin  goes  to  the  Columbia.  I  am  to  have  Nor- 
way House.  Mr.  John  Clarke,  full  of  health  and 
vigor,  was  represented  as  compelled  to  go  to  Mon- 
treal for  his  health  for  a  time.  Mr.  Simpson,  the 
new  governor,  who  did  such  good  work  in  Athabasca 
as  clerk,  felt  a  good  deal  hurt  at  the  way  Mr.  Garry 
made  the  appointments.  Simon  McGillivray  lost 
his  temper  again  and  again.  Mr.  Simpson  is  one  of 
the  most  pleasant  little  men  I  have  ever  met.  He  is 
full  of  spirit,  can  see  no  difficulties  and  is  ambition 
itself.     He  requires  bridle  more  than  spur." 

Appointments  having  been  made,  Garry  proceeds 
west,  pausing  at  Rainy  Lake,  at  Winnipeg  River  and 
at  Red  River  to  meet  the  Indians  in  treaty  and  hear 
Simon  McGillivray  assure  them  they  must  now  all 
obey  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.    At  all  trading 

237 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

places  the  fur  posts  are  combined  in  one  palisaded 
fort.  At  Red  River,  so  bitter  is  the  feeling,  Garry 
decides  both  Hudson's  Bay  and  Northwest  forts  must 
be  abandoned  and  a  new  one  built  slightly  back  from 
the  forks  of  the  river.  This  is  named  after  himself — 
Fort  Garry.  Ten  years  have  passed  since  Selkirk 
sent  his  first  colonists  to  Red  River,  and  Garry  finds 
that  the  settlement  numbers  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  Scotch  people  on  the  west  side  of  Red  River; 
sixty-five  De  Meuron  soldiers,  who  remained  as 
farmers,  on  the  east  side  of  Red  River,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-three  retired  Canadian  fur  traders. 
Of  the  four  hundred  and  nineteen  people,  only  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four  are  women.  The  De  Meurons 
are  dissatisfied.  They  will  not  marry  Indian  wives, 
and  no  others  are  to  be  had,  so  the  De  Meurons  grow 
tired  of  their  homeless,  wifeless  cabins  and  become 
somewhat  noted  in  Kildonan  for  tavern  brawls  and 
midnight  raids  on  the  hen  roosts.  Also,  cattle  mys- 
teriously disappear,  of  which  the  De  Meurons  offer 
the  hides  for  sale. 

Garry  then  hastens  from  Lake  Winnipeg  to  York 
on  Hudson  Bay  to  meet  the  incoming  ships  and  re- 
turn on  one  of  them  to  England.  He  is  just  in  time  at 
York  to  meet  one  hundred  and  seventy  Swiss  settlers 
brought  out  by  Walter  von  Husser,  a  Swiss  nobleman. 
Garry    foresees    exactly   what    afterward    happens. 

238 


Reconstruction  Contiwued 


Here  are  wives  for  the  De  Meuron  soldiers,  but  he 
fears  these  comely  Swiss  girls  will  fare  badly  with 
"the  lawless  banditti  De  Meurons."  Garry's  fears 
were  not  realized.  The  West  has  a  wonderful  way 
of  raising  the  status  of  women  through  sheer  scarcity 
of  femininity.  The  De  Meurons  were  so  glad  to  see 
the  Swiss  that  the  emigrants  were  welcomed  to  the 
soldiers'  lodges  for  the  winter.  But  in  another  way 
the  Swiss  settlers  did  not  fare  well.  They  were 
nearly  all  artisans,  unused  to  farming — clockmak- 
ers  and  cabinet  workers  and  carvers,  who  found 
small  service  for  their  labors  on  Red  River.  The 
consequence  was  the  majority  abandoned  Red 
River  and  moved  down  to  Minnesota,  squatting 
near  the  newly  built  military  post — Fort  Snelling, 
near  what  is  now  St.  Paul.  Thus  Selkirk — all  un- 
witting— had  builded  better  than  he  dreamed — lay- 
ing the  foundation  colonies  of  two  western  empires; 
for  these  Swiss  were  the  first  settlers  in  Minnesota, 
as  distinguished  from  mere  fur  traders.  St.  Paul, 
it  may  be  added,  was  in  those  days  known  as 
"  Pig's  Eye,"  from  the  uncanny  countenance  of  a 
disreputable  whiskey  dealer  there. 

Let  us  follow  some  of  the  newly  organized  brigades 
to  their  hunting  fields.  John  McLoughlin  has  been 
sent  to  Oregon.    Born  on  October'  19,   1784,  at 

239 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Riviere  de  Loup,  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  six  feet  three 
in  stature,  the  doctor  is  comparatively  a  )^oung  man 
to  rule  the  vast  empire  beyond  the  mountains,  but 
exposure  has  given  him  an  appearance  of  premature 
age,  of  premature  gentleness.  His  long  hair,  white 
as  snow,  wins  him  the  name  among  the  Indians  of 
''White  Eagle,"  and  his  manners  have  the  benign 
pomp  of  a  man  sure  of  himself.  Douglas  of  Stuart 
Lake,  who  has  been  with  Fraser,  accompanies  him 
as  second.  A  Doctor  Barclay  goes  as  physician. 
Tom  McKay,  McLoughlin's  stepson,  son  of  the  Mc- 
Kay of  the  MacKenzie  voyages,  is  leader  of  the 
brigades.  Scattered  at  the  different  forts,  at  Colville 
and  Walla  Walla  and  Okanogan,  are  many  of  Astor's 
old  men,  many  of  David  Thompson's  old  brigades. 
When  the  war  of  1812  closed,  by  treaty  of  181 8  Fort 
George  is  restored  to  the  Americans;  but  there  are 
no  Americans  on  the  field.  The  Nor' Westers  con- 
tinue at  the  fort  till  Governor  Simpson  and  Dr.  John 
McLoughlin  come  in  1824-5,  and  to  avoid  the  baleful 
effects  of  skippers'  rum  from  passing  ships,  move 
headquarters  up  the  Columbia  on  the  north  side 
opposite  Willamette  River,  some  ninety  or  one  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  sea.  The  new  fort  is  called 
Vancouver.  While  treaty  has  restored  Fort  George 
to  the  Americans,  it  has  not  restored  Oregon.  Ore- 
gon is  in  dispute.    For  the  present,  England  and 

240 


Reconstruction  Continued 


the  United  States  agree  ^'to  joint  occupancy,"  the 
treaty  in  no  way  to  affect  the  final  question  of  owner- 
ship. 

If  Italy,  Spain,  France,  Germany  and  Switzerland 
were  united  under  one  flag,  if  that  flag  had  the  motto 
Pro  Pelle  Cutem — "Skin  for  Skin" — and  the  mystic 
letters  H.  B.  C. — Hudson's  Bay  Company — it  would 
give  some  idea  of  the  size  of  the  fur  traders'  kingdom 
ruled  by  McLoughlin.  At  a  bend  in  the  Columbia 
on  the  north  side,  far  enough  from  the  coast  to  be 
away  from  the  rivalry  of  Pacific  schooners,  near 
enough  to  be  in  touch  with  tidewater,  stood  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom.  Fort  Vancouver,  Spruce 
slabs  half  a  foot  thick,  twenty  feet  high,  sharp  at 
both  ends  and  in  double  rows,  composed  the  walls. 
Great  gates  with  brass  hinges  extending  half  way 
across  the  top  and  bottom  beams,  opened  leaf-wise 
toward  the  river.  On  the  northwest  corner  stood  a 
bastion  whose  lower  stories  served  as  powder  maga- 
zine and  upper  windows  as  look-out.  Cannon 
bristled  through  the  double  palisades  of  the  fort,  and 
to  one  side  of  the  main  gate  was  the  customary  wicket 
through  which  goods  could  be  exchanged  for  furs 
from  the  Indians.  The  big,  two-story,  timbered 
house  in  the  center  of  the  court  was  the  residence 
of   the  Chief  Factor.    On  both  sides  were  stores 

241 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  warehouses  and  fur  presses  and  the  bachelors* 
quarters  and  the  Httle  log  cabins,  where  lived  the 
married  trappers.  Trim  lawns  decorated  with  little 
rockeries  of  cannon  balls  divided  the  different  build- 
ings, and  in  front  of  the  Chief  Factor's  residence  on 
the  top  of  a  large  flagpole  there  blew  to  the  breeze 
the  flag  with  the  letters  H.  B.  C. — sign  that  a  brigade 
was  coming  in,  or  a  brigade  setting  out;  or  a  ship 
had  been  sighted;  or  it  was  Sunday  and  the  flying 
flag  was  signal  to  the  Indians  there  would  be  no 
trade,  a  flag  custom  on  Sundays  that  has  lasted  to 
this  day. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  all  that  remained 
of  Astor's  Fort  Astoria  and  Lewis  and  Clarke's 
Fort  Clatsop  was  a  moldering  pile  of  rain-rotted  logs 
with  a  little  square-timbered  hut  where  one  lone 
Scotchman  kept  watch  for  incoming  ships  and  pos- 
sible wrecks.  Eastward,  where  the  Columbia  takes 
its  first  bend  was  Walla  Walla,  under  trader  Pam- 
brum;  northward,  where  it  takes  a  second  bend, 
Okanogan  under  Ross;  west,  where  it  turns  up  into 
the  Arrow  Lakes  of  British  Columbia,  Fort  Colville 
under  Firman  MacDonell;  and  half  way  between 
these  two  posts  southward,  Spokane  House,  founded 
by  that  John  Clarke,  who  w^as  with  Robertson  in 
Athabasca.  These  were  the  strongholds  from  which 
the  Company  ruled  its  transmontane  kingdom,  five 

242 


Reconstruction  Continued 


little  fur  posts,  all  except  Spokane,  close  to  the  main 
river  trail,  the  capitals  and  sub-capitals  of  an  empire 
big  as  half  Europe. 

By  right,  the  treaty  of  joint  occupation  had  refer- 
ence only  to  Washington  and  Oregon;  but  who  was 
to  prevent  McLeod  leading  his  brigade  down  the 
coast  to  California  as  far  as  Sacramento,  or  Ogden  his 
brigade  up  the  Snake  as  far  as  the  Nevada  deserts, 
or  Ross  his  mountaineers  through  Washington  and 
Idaho  over  the  Bitter  Root  and  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  buffalo  plains  of  the  Missouri  in  Montana?  It 
was  a  no-man's-land,  where  trappers  might  wander 
whither  their  beaver  quest  led,  with  no  other  law  but 
what  each  man's  right  arm  was  strong  enough  to 
enforce.  Fish  diet  palled  at  Fort  Vancouver.  Buffalo 
meat  was  needed  for  the  brigades.  Up  at  Fort 
Okanogan  was  Alexander  Ross,  studying  the 
language  of  the  mountain  Indians,  leading  a  lonely 
existence  "with  no  other  company,"  as  he  relates, 
"but  my  dog  Weasel  and  the  Bible."  A  mid-winter 
express  brought  Ross  orders  to  proceed  over  the 
mountains  by  way  of  Clarke's  Fork  or  Flathead 
River  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri  and  Yellow- 
stone and  Big  Horn.  His  hunting  field  was  the  very 
stamping  ground  of  the  most  dangerous  warriors 
among  the  Indians — the  Blackfeet  and  Piegans  and 
Crows.    Yet  if  this  express  had  ordered  Ross  to 

243 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

march  down  to  Hell's  Gate  and  jump  over  the  preci- 
pice into  that  canon,  he  would  have  obeyed.  A 
better  man  for  the  field  could  not  have  been  chosen. 
Ross  had  come  to  the  Pacific  on  John  Jacob  Astor's 
first  ship.  He  had  been  almost  at  once  sent  North 
to  establish  Fort  Okanogan,  where  by  studying  the 
Indian  languages  during  the  long  isolated  winters, 
he  soon  became  a  proficient  trader.  He  was  both 
religious  and  scholarly,  but  either  the  intense  loneli- 
ness of  the  life,  or  the  danger  of  being  among  the 
Indians  without  a  companion,  drove  him  into  mar- 
riage with  a  daughter  of  the  Okanogans.  This  wife 
became  one  of  the  grand  old  ladies  of  the  Red  River 
Settlement,  when  Ross  retired  to  Manitoba.  Beaver 
must  be  sought  as  usual  at  the  headwaters  of  the 
Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone  and  the  Big  Horn ; 
and  to  reach  those  headwaters  for  the  spring 
hunt,  Ross  must  do  his  buffalo  hunting  in  mid- 
winter. The  mountain  passes  must  be  traversed 
through  bottomless  depths  of  snow,  for  the  climate 
was  so  mild  no  crust  formed,  and  above  the  tree  line 
in  the  cloud  region  was  a  fall — fall  of  snow  almost 
continuous  for  the  winter  months  till  the  precipices 
overhung  with  dangerous  snow  cornices  of  ponderous 
weight,  and  the  cut-rocks  were  heaped  into  huge 
snow  mushrooms.  But  Ross  was  no  novice  at  snow 
work  in  the  mountains.     One  of  his  first  winters  at 

244 


Reconsiruction  Continued 


Okanogan,  he  had  become  so  desperately  lonely  that 
he  decided  to  pay  a  three  days'  visit  to  his  next  door 
neighbor  at  Spokane  House,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  away.  The  country  was  rocky  and  the  trail 
steep.  Coming  home  the  horses  had  fagged  so  com- 
pletely climbing  the  last  mountain  that  Ross  and  his 
Indian  servants  dismounted  to  beat  the  way  up 
through  the  snow  for  the  animals  to  follow.  It  was 
not  easy  work.  Snow  cornice  broke  under  the 
weight,  and  down  men  and  horses  slithered  in  minia- 
ture avalanche.  The  soft  crust  of  drift  over  rocks 
broke,  plunging  the  path-makers  in  snow  to  their 
armpits,  and  all  the  while  the  way  was  zigzagging 
up  till  Ross  and  his  Indians  were  blowing  with  heat 
like  whales.  First,  pack  straps  came  off,  then  gun 
cases,  then  coats  and  waistcoats  to  be  hung  on  the 
saddle  pommels.  A  sharp  turn  in  the  trail  brought 
them  suddenly  on  one  of  those  high,  bare  Alpine 
meadows  where  Arctic  storms  sweep  when  flowers 
may  be  blooming  in  the  valley.  Before  they  could 
find  their  horses  darkness  and  snow  so  completely 
hid  everything  Ross  could  only  shout  against  the 
wind  for  the  men  to  shift  for  themselves  and  let  the 
horses  run.  Then  he  realized  that  he  was  without 
cither  coat  or  buffalo  blanket.  Luckily,  a  bewildered 
pack  horse  jammed  against  him  in  the  whirl.  Ross 
gripped  the  saddle  straps,  cut  the  pack  ropes,  threw 

245 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

off  the  load,  and  leaped  astride  the  saddle  trees  with 
no  other  blanket  than  the  patch  of  wool  that  served 
as  saddle  cloth.  Certain  that  he  was  near  Okano- 
gan, he  rode  like  mad  through  the  howling  darkness, 
but  the  floundering  broncho  fagged  in  the  drifts,  and 
Ross  became  so  numb  he  could  not  keep  his  seat. 
Dismounting,  he  tried  to  keep  himself  warm  by 
walking,  but  was  soon  so  exhausted  he  could  only 
cling  to  the  warm  body  of  the  horse.  Tying  the 
saddle  cloth  round  his  neck,  he  tried  to  dig  a  hole  of 
shelter  in  the  snow,  but  there,  his  feet  became  so 
cold,  he  had  to  take  off  his  boots  to  keep  from  freez- 
ing, and  passed  the  night  in  a  frantic  effort  against 
the  frost-sleep.  In  the  morning  he  was  too  stiff  to 
mount  his  horse.  He  had  no  strength  to  beat  the 
wind,  and  had  almost  determined  to  kill  his  horse 
and  crawl  inside  the  body,  when  the  storm  began  to 
lessen.  To  his  relief,  Okanogan  House  was  only  a 
short  distance  away.  When  trappers  went  out  to 
rescue  the  Indians  of  the  party,  they  found  one  horse 
dead,  torn  to  pieces  by  the  wolves.  Ross  knew 
mountain  travel. 

It  was  February  ii,  1824,  when  Ross  struck  east 
from  Coeur  d'Alene  Lake — the  Lake  of  the  Pointed 
Heart, so  called  from  the  sharp  trading, like  " an  awl" 
of  the  Indians — to  cross  the  mountains  of  Idaho 
and    Montana    for    the    buffalo    plains.     Between 

246 


Reconstruction  Continued 


Okanogan  and  Spokane  House,  he  had  succeeded  La 
mustering  twelve  Hudson's  Bay  trappers,  Iroquois 
most  of  them,  with  a  few  Canadians  Hke  Pierre  ant! 
Goddin  and  Sylvaille.  Of  the  freeman  who  roved 
the  mountains,  forty-three  joined  Ross'  brigade. 
In  all,  there  were  forty-five  men,  two  hundred  and 
six  traps,  sixty-two  guns,  including  a  large  brass 
cannon,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty  horses.  In  a 
few  days  they  were  on  Horse  Prairie,  where  roved 
herds  of  wild,  Spanish  ponies,  claimed  by  the  Flat- 
heads  and  valued  at  four  beaver  skins  each.  Passing 
travelers  might  seize  these  horses,  but  woe  betide 
them  if  full  value  were  not  left  in  beaver  skins. 
Without  warning,  the  Flatheads  would  pursue  and 
exact  a  scalp  for  each  horse  stolen.  From  the  out- 
set Ross  had  trouble  with  his  men.  They  had  first 
served  under  Astor,  then  under  the  Nor'Westers,  and 
now  were  unsettled  by  the  recent  change  of  allegiance 
to  Hudson's  Bay.  Besides,  General  Ashley's  moun- 
taineers, Pierre  Chouteau's  trappers,  had  begun 
coming  across  the  plains  from  St.  Louis.  For  each 
beaver  the  American  trader  paid  $5.00,  where  the 
Hudson's  Bay  paid  only  $1.00  and  $2.00.  Ross' 
trappers  were  dissatisfied.  For  the  first  month — 
the  mid-winter  month  when  all  game  is  quiet — no 
beaver  were  seen.  Snow  storms  met  the  marchers 
as  they  neared  the  mountains,  and  on  the  13th  of 

247 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

February  Ross  awakened  to  find  that  the  Iroquois 
hunters  under  old  Pierre  had  deserted.  Mounting 
post  haste,  Ross  pursued,  overtook  the  seceders,  and 
demanded  the  cause  of  their  complaint.  They  com- 
plained that  the  price  allowed  for  their  furs  was  so 
small  in  proportion  to  the  exorbitant  advance  on 
goods,  that  they  were  never  able  to  pay  debts,  much 
less  make  money,  and  declared  they  would  not  risk 
their  lives  any  more.  Ross,  himself,  acknowledges 
that  goods  worth  six  pence  were  traded  for  beaver 
worth  $5.00  in  China.  "The  Iroquois  declared  Mr. 
Ogden  last  fall  had  promised  they  should  be  paid 
half  in  currency.  I  told  them  that  promise  would 
be  performed.  They  grumbled  and  talked,  and 
talked  and  grumbled,  and  at  last  consented  to  pro- 
ceed. Thinks  I  to  myself — is  this  the  beginning?" 
Four  days  later,  the  first  beaver  was  caught,  but 
only  the  toes  were  left  in  the  trap.  Wolves  had 
howled  all  night  round  the  camp.  To  avoid  future 
mutiny,  Ross  appointed  three  leaders,  old  Pierre  at 
the  head  of  the  Iroquois;  Montour  of  the  Half- 
breeds  and  himself  for  the  Company's  trappers,  the 
three  to  meet  each  night  and  exchange  the  views  of 
the  camp.  On  February  23rd,  the  brigade  struck 
into  that  defile  of  the  mountains  between  the  Rockies 
east  and  the  Bitter  Root  west,  along  the  trail  from 
what  is  now  from  Butte  and  Missoula  to  De  Smet 

248 


Reconstruction  Continued 


and  Kootenay.  They  had  left  Clarke's  Fork  and 
were  on  Hell  Gate  River,  "so  named,"  explains 
Ross,  "from  being  frequented  by  war  parties  of  rov- 
ing Blackfeet."  While  the  brigade  camped  came  a 
tinkle  of  dog  bells  over  the  snow,  and  eight  Piegans 
appeared  driving  loaded  dog  sleds  with  provisions  to 
trade  in  the  Flathead  country.  Before  Ross  could 
stop  them,  his  rascally  Iroquois  were  out  of  the 
leather  lodges  with  a  whoop  and  flare  of  firearms  and 
had  stripped  the  poor  Piegans  naked,  leaving  not  so 
much  as  a  piece  of  fat  on  their  sleighs.  There  was 
nothing  for  Ross  to  do  but  "pay  treble  the  value 
of  the  trash"  and  invite  the  victims  into  his  own 
lodge.  As  the  Piegans  were  going  off  next  day,  he 
gave  them  a  salute  of  honor  from  the  brass  gun, 
";m5/  to  show  them"  he  explains,  ^^that  it  makes  a 
noise."  Barely  was  this  trouble  past,  when  two  Iro- 
quois again  deserted.  After  them  on  horseback  rode 
Ross  with  old  Pierre  as  lieutenant.  "Partly  by  per- 
suasion, and  partly  by  force,"  he  relates,  "we  put 
them  on  horseback  and  brought  them  into  camp 
before  dark." 

It  was  necessary  to  reach  the  buffalo  plains  and 
get  the  store  of  pcmmican  before  the  spring  hunt. 
Already  it  was  March,  and  Ross  found  himself  in 
a  narrow  mountain  canon  three  hundred  miles  from 
any  post,  the  trail  forward  blocked  by  snow  twelve 

249 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

feet  deep  for  twenty  miles.  No  time  for  mutineers 
to  plot.  Daydawn  to  dark  for  a  week,  Ross  sent  his 
men  forward  to  cut  a  way  through  the  snow,  the 
horses  disappearing  through  the  soft  drifts  alto- 
gether in  their  plunges,  and  the  end  of  a  week  saw 
only  three  miles  clear  with  a  howling  blizzard  that 
filled  up  the  trench  as  fast  as  the  trappers  could  work. 
Ross  kept  his  men  too  busy  to  think  of  turning  back 
and  sent  forward  a  fresh  relay  of  horses  to  stamp  the 
way  open.  The  end  of  another  week  saw  eight 
miles  clear,  but  storm  kept  the  men  idle  in  camp  for 
a  day,  and  that  day  worked  the  mischief  with  dis- 
cipline. "  John  Grey,  a  turbulent  Iroquois,  came  to 
my  lodge  as  spokesman  to  inform  me  he  and  ten 
others  had  resolved  to  turn  back.  I  asked  him  why? 
He  said  this  delay  would  lose  the  spring  hunt.  Any- 
way, the  Iroquois  had  not  engaged  to  dig  snow  and 
make  roads.  I  told  him  I  was  surprised  to  hear  a 
good,  quiet,  honest  fellow  like  he  was  utter  such 
cowardly  words.  (God  forgive  me  for  the  lie!)  I 
said  by  going  back  they  would  loose  the  whole  year's 
hunt.  A  change  in  the  weather  any  day  now  might 
allow  us  to  begin  hunting.  It  was  dangerous  for  us 
to  separate.  John  answered  he  was  no  slave  to  work 
in  this  way.  I  told  him  he  was  a  freeman  of  good 
character  and  to  be  careful  to  keep  his  character 
good.     (God  forgive  me.    In  my  heart,  I  thought 

250 


Reconstruction  Continued 


otherwise.     I  saw  him  in  his  true  colors,  a  turbulent 

blackguard,  a  d rascal,  a  low  trouble  maker.) 

He  said:  'Fair  words  are  all  very  well;  but  back  I 
am  going  to  go.'  I  thought  a  moment.  Then  I 
said:  'You  are  no  stronger  than  other  men.  Stopped, 
you  will  be.  I  will  stop  you!'  He  said  he  would 
like  to  see  the  man  who  could  stop  him.  I  said:  'I 
can.'  Old  Pierre  interrupted  by  coming  in  and  John 
went  off  cursing  the  Company,  the  brigade,  the 
country,  the  day  he  came  to  it.  If  his  party  deserts, 
this  trip  will  fail.    So  another  day  ends." 

The  next  day,  not  a  soul  would  go  to  work.  With 
the  storm  howling  round  the  tepee  as  if  it  would  tear 
the  buffalo  flaps  away,  the  solitary  white  man  sitting 
by  the  fire  inside  the  lodge,  knew  the  mutiny  was 
spreading.  Up  and  down  the  canon  roared  the 
blizzard,  booming  down  from  the  mountains  for 
almost  a  week^  the  bitter  North  wind  drifting,  piling, 
packing  in  a  wall  of  snow  from  end  to  end  of  the  eight- 
mile  trench  that  had  been  cleared.  Watching  the 
smoke  curl  up  from  the  central  fire  to  the  tepee  top, 
Ross  though  alone,  could  afford  to  smile.  With  that 
wall  of  snow  behind,  it  would  be  just  as  hard  to 
go  back  as  to  go  forward.  The  storm  was  cutting 
off  the  mutineers'  retreat.  That  night  as  the  fires 
were  smoldering  and  the  hobbled  bronchos  huddling 
about  the  lodge  walls  for  shelter  from  the  wind,  a 

251 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  N orthwest 

furious  barking  of  dogs  aroused  camp  and  the  shout 
of  "enemies,  enemies,  Blackfeet,"  brought  the  trap- 
pers dashing  out  muskets  in  hand.  The  fire  inside 
a  tepee  is  too  good  a  target  for  attack.  Outside, 
even  in  storm  is  safer,  but  the  snow  muffled  forms 
emerging  from  the  wooly  darkness  proved  to  be  no 
enemies  at  all,  but  six  friendly  Nez  Perces,  who  had 
come  from  the  buffalo  hunt  across  the  mountains  on 
snowshoes.  Five  days  the  journey  had  taken.  They 
reported  buffalo  in  plenty  but  the  snow  deeper 
farther  down  the  canon.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
diversion  created,  Ross  sent  for  John,  the  mutineer, 
and  offered  to  reduce  his  debt  to  the  Company  "if 
the  intriguing  scamp  w^ould  hunt  the  hills  for  game 
to  keep  the  camp  in  meat."  John  disposed  of,  Ross 
called  for  thirty  volunteers  to  go  back  over  the  moun- 
tain on  snowshoes  with  the  Nez  Perces  to  the  buffalo 
hunt.  With  thirty  men  across  the  mountains,  there 
was  no  danger  of  the  rest  turning  back.  Storm  was 
followed  by  thaw,  that  increased  the  pasturage  for 
the  horses,  and  sent  the  Indian  women  picking 
cranberries  in  the  marshes,  and  set  the  snow-slides 
rumbling  down  the  mountains  like  thunder.  Birds 
were  singing  in  the  caiion,  geese  winging  north  over- 
head, but  still  the  snow  lay  packed  like  a  wedge  in 
the  pass,  barring  way  for  horses  or  cannon.  "I  feel 
anxious,  very  anxious  at  our  long  delay  here,"  writes 

252 


Reconstruction  Continued 


Ross  at  the  end  of  a  month.  ''The  people  grumble 
much.  That  sly,  deep  dog  of  an  Iroquois,  Laurent, 
deserted  camp  to-day  before  I  knew.  A  more  head- 
strong, ill-designing  set  of  rascals  than  form  this 
camp,  God  never  pcrmited  together  in  the  fur  trade." 
In  a  few  weeks  the  buffalo  hunters  were  back  with 
store  of  meat,  which  the  squaws  began  to  pound  into 
pemmican ;  but  the  sun  glare  had  been  so  strong  on 
the  unsheltered  slopes  of  the  uplands  that  six  of  the 
hunters  were  led  home  snow-blind.  This  discour- 
aged the  freemen,  fickle  as  children;  and  rebellion 
began  to  brew  again.  In  vain,  Ross  called  a  council, 
and  went  from  lodge  to  lodge,  and  urged,  and  or- 
dered, and  pleaded,  and  bribed.  Not  a  man  but 
Old  Pierre,  the  Iroquois,  would  go  to  work  to  clear 
the  road. 

The  nights  were  spent  in  gambling,  the  days  in 
grumbling;  and  old  Cadiac,  a  Half-breed,  had  made 
himself  an  Indian  drum  or  tom-tom  of  buffalo  skin 
stretched  on  bare  hoops.  John  Grey,  the  rebel,  had 
uncased  his  fiddle  and  was  filing  away  all  night  to 
the  Red  River  jig  and  native  dances  of  Indian  pow- 
wow. Ross  proposed  the  camp  should  give  a  con- 
cert. A  concert  meant  that  a  dram  of  liquor  would 
go  the  rounds.  Two  or  three  lodges  were  thrown 
into  one.  Vanished  into  thin  air  the  mutinous  mood 
of  the  rebels.     Hither  came  Cadiac  with  the  tom-tom- 

253 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

torn  of  the  Indian  drum!  Hither  John  Grey,  the 
Iroquois,  scraping  his  fiddle  strings  with  the  glee  of  a 
Troubadour!  Hither  Half-breeds  with  concertinas, 
and  shaggy  hunters  with  Jews'  harps,  and  French 
Canadians  with  a  fife!  The  night  was  danced  away 
with  such  wild  Western  jigs  as  Hell  Gate  had  never 
seen  before  and  did  not  see  again  till  the  mountains 
resounded  to  the  music  halls  of  the  tin-horn  gamblers 
in  the  construction  days  of  the  railway.  When 
morning  came  over  the  hills,  Ross  sprung  his  sur- 
prise. Whether  the  surprise  was  mixed  with  what 
cheered  the  French  half-breeds'  inner  man — he  does 
not  tell.  With  a  whoop  and  hurrah,  he  proposed 
they  all  go  down  the  pass  and  dig  that  snow  out  to  the 
strains  of  John  Grey's  fiddle!  The  sun  was  coming 
over  the  mountains.  The  hunters  were  happy  as 
grown-up  children.  What  did  the  old  snow  matter 
anyway?  Off  they  went!  John  Grey,  the  arch- 
rebel,  literally  fiddling  them  through  the  mountains! 
But  alas,  four  days  later,  when  the  novelty  or  spree 
had  worn  off,  on  the  morning  of  April  14th,  every  man 
of  the  camp  except  seven,  refused  to  go  to  work. 
However,  it  was  the  last  mile  of  the  blockade,  and 
those  seven  cleared  the  way.  "Thursday,  April  15th. 
This  day  we  passed  the  defile  of  the  mountains  after 
a  most  laborious  journey  both  for  man  and  beast. 
Long  before  daylight  we  were  on  the  road,  in  order 

254 


Reconstruction  Continued 


to  profit  by  the  hardness  of  the  crust  before  the  thaw. 
From  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  mountains  is  about 
one  and  a  half  miles.  On  the  one  side  is  the  source 
of  the  Flathead  River,  on  the  other  of  the  Missouri. 
The  latter  creek  runs  south-southeast  through  the 
mountains  till  it  joins  a  branch  of  the  Missouri 
beyond  Grand^  Prairie.  For  twelve  miles,  the  road 
had  been  made  through  five  feet  of  snow,  but  the 
wind  had  filled  it  up  again.  The  last  eight  miles 
we  had  to  force  our  way  through  snow  gullies,  swim- 
ming the  horses  through  in  plunges.  At  four  p.  m. 
we  encamped  on  the  other  side  of  the  defile  without 
accident.  Distance  to-day  eighteen  miles,  though 
only  a  mile  and  a  half  as  the  crow  flies.  This  delay 
has  cost  loss  of  one  month.  We  encamp  to  make 
lodge  poles  for  the  rest  of  the  journey." 

From  the  journals  sent  in  by  Ross  to  Hudson's 
Bay  House,  it  is  hard  to  follow  the  exact  itinerary 
of  his  movements  for  the  next  two  months.  Nor  do 
the  books,  which  he  wrote  of  his  life  in  the  West, 
throw  much  light  on  the  locale  of  his  travels.  Wher- 
ever there  were  beaver  and  buffalo,  the  brigade 
marched.  One  week,  the  men  were  spread  out  in 
different  parties  on  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri. 
Another  week,  they  were  on  the  headwaters  of  the 
Yellowstone  in  the  National  Park  of  Wyoming. 
They  did  not  go  eastward  beyond  sight  of  the  moun- 

255 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

tains,  but' swung  back  and  forward  between  Mon- 
tana and  Wyoming.  "Saturday — April  17th — pro- 
ceeded to  the  main  fork  of  the  Missouri  and  set 
watch.  It  was  on  this  flat  prairie,  four  hundred 
Piegans  last  year  attacked  Firman  McDonald's  bri- 
gade and  killed  a  freeman  named  Thomas  Anderson. 
As  we  are  on  dangerous  ground,  I  have  drawn  up 
the  following  rules:  (i)  All  hands  raise  camp  to- 
gether by  call;  (2)  The  camp  to  march  close  together. 
(3)  No  person  to  run  ahead;  (4)  No  person  to  set 
traps  till  all  hands  are  camped;  (5)  No  person  to 
sleep  out  of  camp.  All  agreed  to  these  rules,  but 
they  were  broken  before  night.  Thursday,  22nd  of 
April — thirty-five  beaver  taken  last  night,  six  feet  left 
in  the  traps,  twenty-five  traps  missing  (dragged  off 
by  the  beaver  or  stolen  by  the  Indians).  The  free- 
men let  their  horses  run.  They  will  not  take  care 
of  them."  And  then  poor  Ross  varies  the  formali- 
ties of  his  daily  report  by  breaking  out  in  these  lines 
against  his  unruly  followers: 

"Loss  and  misfortune  must  be  the  lot 
When  care  and  attention  arc  wholly  forgot." 

"That  scamp  of  a  Saulteaux  Indian  threatens  to 
leave  because  I  found  fault  with  him  for  breaking  the 
rules.  If  he  dares,  I  will  strip  him  naked,  horses, 
blankets  and  clothes,  to  fare  forth  on  the  plain. 
Saturday    24th — We    crossed    beyond    the    Boiling 

256 


Reconstruction  Continued 


Fountains.  The  snow  is  knee-deep.  Half  the  people 
are  snow-blind  from  sun  glare." 

Ross  now  swung  west  over  the  Bitter  Root  Moun- 
tains to  Salmon  River,  following  as  far  as  I  can  tell, 
the  path  of  the  modern  Oregon  Short  Line  Railway 
from  Salt  Lake  to  the  Northern  Pacific.  So  has  it 
always  been  in  America.  Not  the  bridge  builder  but 
the  fur  trader  has  been  the  pathfinder  for  the  railway. 
On  leaving  the  middle  fork  of  the  Missouri,  he  refers 
to  one  of  those  wilderness  tragedies  of  which  word 
comes  down  to  latter  day  life  like  a  ghost  echo  of 
some  primordial  warfare.  "Passed  a  deserted  Pie- 
gan  camp  of  thirty-six  lodges  rendered  immemorial 
as  the  place  where  ten  Piegan  murderers  of  our 
people  were  burnt  to  death.  The  road  through  the 
mountains  from  the  Missouri  to  Salmon  River  is  a 
Blackfoot  Pass  of  a  most  dangerous  sort  for  lurking 
enemies;  and  yet  the  freemen  insist  on  going  out  in 
twos  and  twos.  Three  people  slept  out  of  camp  by 
their  traps.  I  had  to  threaten  not  to  give  a  single 
ball  to  them  if  they  did  not  obey  rules;  fifty-five 
beaver  to-day." 

Ross  now  scattered  his  trappers  from  the  valley 
of  the  Three  Tetons  north  along  the  tributaries  of 
the  Snake  in  Idaho.  One  Sunday  night — Ross 
always  compelled  his  trappers  to  dress  for  Sunday 
and  hold  prayers — two  French  Canadian  freemen 

257 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ran  into  camp  with  moccasins  torn  to  shreds  and  a 
breathless  story.  Contrary  to  rules,  they  had  wan- 
dered in  quest  of  game  forty  miles  away,  sleeping 
wherever  night  found  them,  with  no  food  but  what 
they  carried  in  a  blanket  on  their  backs.  "On  their 
way  to  our  camp,  they  saw  a  smoke,  and  taking  it  for 
our  people  had  advanced  within  pistol  shot  when 
behold,  it  proved  to  be  a  camp  of  Piegans.  Wheel- 
ing, they  had  hardly  time  to  take  shelter  among  a 
few  willows,  when  they  were  surrounded  by  armed 
warriors  on  horseback.  Placing  their  own  horses 
between  themselves  and  the  enemy,  our  two  men 
squatted  on  the  grass  to  conceal  themselves.  The 
Piegans  advanced  within  five  paces,  capering  and 
yelling,  cock  sure  of  their  prey.  The  women  had 
gathered  to  act  a  willing  part,  armed  with  lances. 
The  two  crept  through  mud  and  water  out  of  sight 
and  when  night  came  escaped,  abandoning  horses, 
saddles,  traps  and  all.  They  had  traveled  on  foot 
after  dark  the  entire  distance,  hiding  by  day." 

By  June,  Ross  had  a  thousand  beaver;  but  the 
Piegans  had  followed  up  the  trail  of  the  two  escap- 
ing men.  "Saturday,  19th — Had  a  fight.  This 
morning  when  all  hands  were  at  their  traps  scattered 
by  twos,  and  only  ten  men  left  in  the  camp,  forty 
Blackfeet  all  mounted,  descended  on  us  at  full  speed. 
The  trappers  were  so  scattered,  they  could  render 

258 


Reconstruction  Continued 


each  other  no  assistance  and  took  to  their  heels  among 
the  brushwood,  throwing  beaver  one  way,  traps 
another.  Jacques  and  John  Grey  were  pursued  on 
the  open  plain.  Seeing  their  horses  could  not  save 
them,  our  two  heroes  wheeled  and  rode  pell  mell  into 
the  enemy.  The  Piegans  asked  them  to  exchange 
guns.  They  refused.  .  The  chief  seized  Jacques' 
rifle,  but  Jacques  jerked  it  free,  saying  in  Piegan: 
*  If  you  wish  to  kill  us,  kill  us  at  once ;  but  our  guns 
you  shall  never  get  while  we  are  alive.'  The  Piegans 
smiled,  shook  hands,  asked  where  the  camp  was, 
and  ordered  the  men  to  lead  the  way  to  it.  With 
pulses  beating,  Jacques  and  John  advanced  with 
the  unwelcome  guests  to  the  camp,  a  distance  of 
eight  miles.  A  little  before  arriving,  Jacques  broke 
away  at  full  speed  from  his  captors  whooping  and 
yelling — 'Blackfeet !  Blackfeet ! '  In  an  instant,  camp 
was  in  an  uproar.  Of  the  ten  men  in  camp,  eight 
rushed  to  save  the  horses.  Myself  and  the  other  in- 
stantly pointed  the  big  gun,  lighted  the  match  and 
sent  the  women  away.  The  party  hove  in  sight. 
Seeing  John  with  them,  restrained  me  from  firing. 
I  signaled  them  to  pause.  Our  horses  were  then 
secured.  I  received  the  Indians  coldly.  All  our- 
people  had  time  to  reach  camp  and  take  up  a  posi- 
tion of  defense.  I  invited  the  Indians  to  smoke. 
After  dark,  they  entertained  us  to  music  and  dancing, 

259 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

which  we  would  gladly  have  dispensed  with.  All 
slept  armed.  In  the  morning  I  gave  the  Piegans 
presents  and  told  them  to  be  off  and  play  no  tricks 
as  we  would  follow  them  and  punish  them.  The 
big  gun  did  it.     Sixty-five  beaver  to-day." 

Moving  down  Snake  River  in  October,  Ross  met 
a  party  of  Americans  from  the  Big  Horn  from  Major 
Henry's  brigade  of  St.  Louis.  They  had  nine  hun- 
dred beaver  but  would  not  sell  to  Ross.  Ross 
reached  Spokane  House  with  about  $18,000  of  fur 
in  November.  Here  he  helped  to  fit  out  Peter  Skene 
Ogden  for  that  first  trip  of  his  to  the  Snake  Country, 
of  which  there  is  no  record  except  what  Ross  gives 
here.  He  says  Ogden  set  out  with  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  men  under  him,  and  definitely  counted 
on  collecting  14,500  beaver.  No  doubt  the  St.  Louis 
trappers  that  Ross  left  on  the  Snake  were  the  men, 
who  ''relieved"  Peter  Skene  of  his  furs,  and  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  at  the  price  St.  Louis  traders 
paid  for  furs,  $5.50  a  beaver,  those  14,500  Hudson's 
Bay  beaver  would  make  the  exact  amount  with  which 
General  Ashley  retired  from  the  Indian  Country. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXX. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are 
'drawn  (i)  as  to  reorganization  from  Colin  Robertson's  manu- 
script journal  and  Nicholas  Garry's  Journal;  (2)  as  to  the  Co- 
lumbia, from  Ross'  manuscript  journals  sent  to  H.  B.  C.  House, 
London.  Ross  was  the  author  of  three  well-known  books  on 
western  life,  but  this  journey  is  taken  entire  from  his  official 
report  to  H.  B.  C. — a  daily  record  of  some  six  hundred  foolscap 
folios. 

260 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

1824-1838 

journals  of  peter  skene  ogden,  explorer  and 
fur  trader,  over  the  regions  now  known 
as  washington,  oregon,  california,  idaho, 
montana,  nevada  and  utah — he  relieves 
Ashley's  men  of  10,000  beaver — he  finds 
nevada — he  discovers  mt.  shasta — he  tricks 
the  americans  at  salt  lake. 

GAY  were  the  fur  brigades  that  swept  out 
from  old  Fort  Vancouver  for  the  South. 
With  long  white  hair  streaming  to  the 
wind.  Doctor  McLoughlin  usually  stood  on  the 
green  slope  outside  the  picketed  walls,  giving  a  per- 
sonal hand-shake,  a  personal  God-bless-you'  to  every 
packer,  every  horseman  of  the  motley  throng  setting 
out  on  the  yearly  campaign  for  beaver.  There  were 
Iroquois  from  the  St.  Lawrence.  There  were  O jib- 
ways  from  Lake  Superior.  There  were  Cree  and 
Assiniboine  and  Sioux  of  the  prairie,  these  for  the 
most  part  to  act  as  packers  and  hunters  and  trappers 
in  the  horse  brigades  destined  inland  for  the  moun- 
tains. Then,  there  were  freemen,  a  distinct  body  of 
trappers  owning  allegiance  to  no  man,  but  joining  the 

261 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Company's  brigades  for  safety's  sake  and  selling  the 
beaver  they  trapped  to  the  trader  who  paid  the 
highest  price.  Of  coast  Indians,  there  were  very 
few.  The  salmon  runs  of  the  river  gave  the  coast 
tribes  too  easy  an  existence.  They  were  useless  for 
the  hardships  of  inland  service.  A  few  Cayuses 
and  Flatheads,  and  Walla  Wallas  might  join  the 
brigades  for  the  adventure,  but  they  did  not  belong 
to  the  Company's  regular  retainers. 

Three  classes,  the  Company  divided  each  of  the 
hunting  brigades  into — gentlemen,  white  men, 
hunters.  The  gentlemen  usually  went  out  in  twos — 
a  commander  and  his  lieutenant,  dressed  in  cocked 
hat  and  buttons  and  ruffles  and  satin  waistcoats, 
with  a  pistol  somewhere  and  very  often  a  sword 
stuck  in  the  high  boot-leg.  These  were  given  the 
best  places  in  the  canoes,  or  mounted  the  finest 
horses  of  the  mountain  brigades.  The  second  class 
were  either  servants  to  beat  the  furs  and  cook  meals, 
or  young  clerks  sent  out  to  be  put  in  training  for 
some  future  chieftaincy.  But  by  far  the  most  pic- 
turesque part  of  the  brigades  were  the  motley  hunters 
— Indians,  Half-breeds,  white  men — in  buckskin 
suits  with  hawks'  bills  down  the  leggings,  scarlet  or 
blue  handkerchief  binding  back  the  lank  hair,  bright 
sash  about  the  waist  and  moccasins  beaded  like 
works  of  art.     Then  somewhere  in  each  brigade  was 

262 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

a  musician,  a  singer  to  lead  in  the  voyageurs'  songs, 
perhaps  a  piper  from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  to 
set  the  bagpipes  droning  "The  Campbells  Are  Com- 
ing," between  the  rock  walls  of  the  Columbia.  And, 
most  amazing  thing  of  all,  in  these  transmontane 
brigades  the  men  were  accompanied  by  wives  and 
families. 

A  last  hand  shake  with  Doctor  McLoughlin ;  tears 
mingled  with  fears  over  partings  that  were  many  of 
them  destined  to  be  forever,  and  out  they  swept — 
the  Oregon  brigades,  with  laughter  and  French  voy- 
ageurs' song  and  Highland  bagpipes.  A  dip  of  the 
steersman's  lifted  paddle,  and  the  Northern  brigades 
of  sixty  men  each  were  off  for  Athabasca  and  the 
Saskatchewan  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  A  bugle  call, 
or  the  beat  of  an  Indian  tom-tom,  and  the  long  lines 
of  pack  horses,  two  and  three  hundred  in  each  bri- 
gade, decked  with  ribbons  as  for  a  country  fair, 
wound  into  the  mountain  defiles  like  desert  caravans 
of  wandering  Arabs.  Oregon  meant  more  in  those 
days  than  a  wedge  stuck  in  between  Washington 
and  California.  It  was  everything  west  of  the 
Rockies  that  Spain  did  not  claim.  Then  Chief 
factor  McLoughlin,  whom  popular  imagination  re- 
garded as  not  having  a  soul  above  a  beaver  skin, 
used  to  retire  to  his  fort  and  offer  up  prayer  for  those 
in  peril  by  land  and  sea. 

263 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

The  man  chosen  to  lead  the  southern  brigades  to 
the  mountains  and  whose  wanderings  led  to  the 
exploration  of  Oregon,  northern  California,  Idaho, 
Montana,  Wyoming,  Nevada  and  Utah — was  a  short 
rotund,  fun-loving,  young  barrister  of  ISIontreal,  Peter 
Skene  Ogden.  His  ancestors  had  founded  Ogdens- 
burg  of  New  York  State  and  at  an  earlier  day  in  the 
history  of  Scotland  had  won  the  surname  "Skene," 
through  saving  the  life  of  King  Malcolm  by  stabbing 
a  wolf  with  a  dagger— "a  skene."  During  the 
American  Revolution,  his  father  left  New  York  for 
Montreal,  and  had  risen  to  be  chief  justice  of  the 
courts  there,  so  that  the  young  barrister  could  claim 
as  relatives  the  foremost  families  of  New  York  State 
and  the  Province  of  Quebec;  but  an  evil  star  pre- 
sided at  the  birth  of  Peter  Skene.  - 

He  was  finishing  his  law  course  when  his  boyhood 
voice  changed,  and  instead  of  the  round  orotund  of 
manhood  came  a  little,  high,  falsetto  squeak  that 
combined  with  Peter's  little,  fat  figure  and  round 
head  proved  so  irresistibly  comical,  it  blasted  his 
hopes  as  a  pleader  at  the  bar.  John  Jacob  Astor 
was  in  Montreal  wrangling  out  his  quarrel  over 
Mississippi  temtory  with  the  Northwest  Company. 
Judge  Ogden  was  a  friend  of  Astor's.  Peter  applied 
to  go  out  to  Astoria  on  the  Pacific.  Astor  took  him 
as  supercargo  on  The  Lark;  but  in  1813,  The  Lark 

264 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

was  wrecked  in  a  squall  two  hundred  miles  off  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  young  Ogden  was  of  those 
who,  lashed  to  the  spars  of  the  drifting  wreck,  fell 
to  the  mercies  of  the  Hawaiians,  and  finally  reached 
Astoria  only  to  find  it  captured  by  the  Northwest 
Company.  That  was  his  introduction  to  the  fur 
trade  of  Oregon,  and  it  was  typical.  McLoughlin 
had  no  sooner  moved  headquarters  from  Astoria 
inland  to  Fort  Vancouver,  than  Peter  Skene  was  sent 
to  the  Flatheads  of  the  West.  Here,  one  of  his  serv- 
ants got  into  a  scuffle  with  the  Indians  over  a  horse, 
and  Ogden  was  carried  to  the  Flathead  chief  to  be 
shot. 

"What?"  he  demanded  of  the  astonished  chief. 
"Do  you  think  a  white  man  is  to  be  bullied  over  a 
horse?  Do  you  think  a  white  man  fears  to  be  shot? 
Shoot,"  and  he  bared  his  breast  to  the  pistol  point. 

But  the  Flathead  chief  did  not  shoot.  "He  brave 
man,"  said  the  chief,  and  he  forthwith  invited  Ogden 
to  remain  in  the  tent  as  a  friend,  and  proposed  an- 
other way  out  of  the  quarrel  that  would  be  of  mutual 
benefit  to  the  Company  and  to  the  Flatheads.  The 
Company  wanted  furs;  the  Flatheads,  arms.  Let 
Ogden  marry  the  chief's  daughter — Julia  Mary.  It 
was  not  such  a  union  as  his  relatives  of  New  York 
would  approve,  or  his  father,  the  chief  justice  of 
Montreal.    She  was  not  like  the  young  ladies  he 

265 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

had  known  in  the  seminaries  of  the  East,  but  her 
accomphshments  were  of  more  use  to  Peter  Ogden. 
When  Peter  Skene  walked  out  of  the  Flatheads' 
tent,  he  had  paid  fifty  ponies  for  a  wife  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  chief's  daughter.  To  what  period  of 
his  life  they  belong,  I  do  not  know.  His  own  jour- 
nals tell  nothing  of  them,  but  legends  are  still  current 
in  the  West  about  this  Flathead  princess  of  the  wilds ; 
how  when  a  spring  torrent  would  have  swept  away 
a  raft-load  of  furs,  Julia  leaped  into  the  flood  tide, 
roped  the  raft  to  her  own  waist,  and  towed  the  furs 
ashore;  how  when  the  American  traders,  who  re- 
lieved Ogden  of  his  furs,  in  1825,  stampeded  the 
Hudson's  Bay  horses  and  Julia's  horse  galloped  off 
with  her  first-born  dangling  from  the  saddle  straps 
in  a  moss  bag,  she  dashed  into  the  American  lines. 
With  a  bound,  she  was  in  the  saddle.  She  had 
caught  up  the  halter  rope  to  round  baby  and  horses 
back  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  camp,  when  a  drunken 

Yankee  trader  yelled,  "Shoot  that  d squaw!" 

But  the  squaw  was  already  hidden  in  a  whirl  of  dust 
stampeding  back  to  the  British  tents.  This,  then, 
was  the  man  (and  this  the  wife,  who  accompanied 
him)  chosen  to  lead  the  mountain  brigades  through 
the  unexplored  mountain  fastnesses  between  the 
prairie  and  the  Pacific.  Lewis  and  Clarke  had 
crossed  to  the  Columbia,  and  the  Spaniards  to  the 

266 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

Colorado,  but  between  the  Colorado  and  the  Co- 
lumbia was  an  absolutely  unknown  region. 

With  Ogden  as  first  lieutenant  went  Tom  McKay. 
McKay  was  the  best  shot  in  the  brigade,  a  fearless 
fighter,  a  tireless  pathfinder,  and  one  old  record 
says  "combined  the  affable  manners  of  a  French 
seigneur  with  the  wild-eyed  alertness  of  a  moun- 
taineer." With  hatred  of  the  Indian  bred  in  him 
from  the  time  of  his  father's  murder,  he  could  no 
more  see  a  savage  hostile  without  cracking  off  his 
rifle  than  a  war  horse  could  smell  powder  and  not 
prance.  Among  the  trappers  were  rough,  brave 
fellows — freemen,  French  Canadians — whose  names 
became  famous  in  Oregon  history:  La  Framboise, 
Astor's  old  interpreter,  who  became  a  pathfinder  in 
California;  Gervais,  who  alternately  served  Ameri- 
can and  British  fur  traders,  helped  to  find  Mt.  Shasta, 
finally  sold  his  trapping  outfit  and  retired  to  the 
French  colony  of  the  Willamette;  Goddin,and  Pay- 
ette and  Pierre,  the  Iroquois,  and  Portneuf,  who  have 
left  their  names  to  famous  places  of  Idaho.  The 
brigade  numbered  a  score  of  white  men,  some  fifty  or 
sixty  nondescript  trappers,  as  many  women,  some 
children  and  an  average  of  three  horses  for  each 
rider  in  the  party.  These  horses  came  from  the 
Cayuse  Indians  of  the  Walla  Walla  plain.  This  was 
the  rendezvous  after  leaving  Fort  Vancouver.    Here 

267 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

was  always  good  pasturage  for  the  horses,  and  the 
fur  post  had  store  of  pemmican  traded  from  the 
buffalo  hunters  of  the  Cayuse  and  Flathead  nations. 
Pouring  into  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia  be- 
tween Walla  Walla  and  Fort  Vancouver,  were  the 
Walla  Walla,  Umatilla,  John  Day's,  the  River  of  the 
Falls.  In  the  mountains  southward,  were  the  beaver 
swamps.  As  the  entire  region  was  unknown,  Ogden 
determined  to  lead  his  brigade  West  close  to  the 
Columbia,  then  strike  up  the  fartherest  west  river — 
double  back  eastward  on  his  own  tracks  at  the  head- 
waters, and  so  come  down  to  the  Columbia  again 
by  the  Snake.  The  circle  would  include  all  the 
south  of  Oregon  and  Idaho.  He  writes:  ''Monday, 
November  21st,  1825 — Having  sent  off  all  hands 
yesterday  from  Walla  Walla,  I  took  my  departure 
and  overtook  my  party  awaiting  my  arrival.  We  are 
following  the  banks  of  the  Columbia  southwest. 
Our  road  is  hilly,  and  we  have  great  trouble  with  our 
horses,  for  they  are  all  wild.  We  are  followed  by  a 
large  camp  of  Indians  bent  on  stealing  our  horses. 
Although  we  rise  at  day  dawn,  we  are  never  ready  to 
start  before  ten  o'clock,  the  horses  are  so  difficult 
to  catch.  Wednesday,  30th — We  have  reached  John- 
Day's  River.  A  great  many  Indians  have  collected 
about  us.  Each  night  the  beaver  traps  are  set  out, 
and  in  the  morning  some  have  been  stolen  by  the 

268 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

Indians.  Many  horses  missing,  having  been  stolen. 
This  does  not  prevent  raising  camp,  as  by  remaining 
we  should  lose  more  horses  than  we  could  get  back. 
Saturday,  December  3rd — We  bade  farewell  to  the 
Columbia  River  and  struck  south  up  the  River  of 
the  Falls.  It  is  scarcely  credible,  though  we  are 
such  a  short  distance  from  the  Columbia,  what  a 
difference  there  is  in  the  country.  This  soil  is  rich. 
The  oaks  are  large  and  abundant.  The  grass  is 
green,  though  at  a  distance  on  both  sides  all  the  hills 
are  powdered  with  snow.  Sunday,  December  4th — 
It  is  now  very  cold,  for  we  have  begun  ascending  the 
mountains  and  camp  wherever  we  can  find  a  brook. 
The  man  I  sent  back  for  the  lost  horses,  found  them 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Columbia.  He  was  obliged 
to  give  the  Indians  thirty  balls  of  powder  to  get  them 
back,  no  doubt  a  trick,  and  the  thief,  himself,  restored 
them,  a  common  practice  with  all  the  Indians.  We 
are  coming  to  the  end  of  the  Columbia  hills.  Mt. 
Hood,  a  grand  and  noble  sight,  bears  west;  Mt. 
Helen's  north ;  and  to  the  south  are  lofty  mountains 
the  shape  of  sugar  loaves.  On  all  of  these  are  pines, 
that  add  to  the  grandeur.  After  descending  the 
divide  we  reached  a  plain  and  struck  east,  gathering 
some  curious  petrifactions  of  fir  trees.  Our  horses 
are  greatly  fatigued,  for  the  road  is  of  cut  rocks. 
Deer  are  abundant.    We  saw  upward  of  one  hun- 

269 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

dred  to-day,  but  too  swift  to  be  overtaken  on  this 
dangerous  ground.  Many  of  the  bare  hills  are  of 
blood-red  color.  In  this  quarter  are  three  boiling 
fountains  of  sulphur.  I  must  find  an  Indian,  who 
will  guide  us.  If  not,  we  must  attempt  to  cross  east 
without.     Our  horses  are  saddle  deep  in  mire." 

From  the  time  Ogden  crossed  the  sky  line  of  the 
Blue  Mountains  for  the  headwaters  of  the  Snake, 
his  difficulties  began.  Hunters  to  the  fore  for  the 
game  that  was  to  feed  the  camp,  the  cavalcade 
began  zigzagging  up  the  steep  mountain  sides. 
Here,  windfall  of  pines  and  giant  firs,  interlocked 
twice  the  height  of  a  man,  scattered  the  wild  Cayuse 
ponies  in  the  forest.  There,  the  cut  rocks,  steep  as 
a  wall  and  sharp  as  knives,  crowded  the  pack  horses 
to  the  edge  of  bottomless  precipices  where  one  mis- 
step meant  instant  death  for  rider  and  horse.  And 
the  mountain  torrents  tearing  over  the  rocks  swept 
horses  away  at  fording  places,  so  that  once  Ogden 
was  compelled  to  follow  the  torrent  down  its  canon  to 
calmer  waters  and  there  build  a  canoe.  In  this  way 
his  hunters  crossed  over  by  threes  and  fours,  but  how 
to  get  the  fractious  horses  across?  It  was  too  swift 
for  men  to  swim,  and  the  bronchos  refused  to 
plunge  in.  Getting  two  or  three  of  the  wise  old  bell- 
mares,  that  are  in  every  string  of  packers,  at  the  end 
of  a  long  rope,  the  canoemen  shot  across  the  whirl  of 

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mid-stream  and  got  footing  on  the  opposite  shore. 
Then  by  dint  of  pulling  and  yelling  the  frantic  horses 
were  half  frightened,  half-tumbled  into  the  river,  and 
came  out  right  side  up  a  hundred  yards  farther  down. 
At  other  places,  the  cut-rocks — a  local  term  that  ex- 
plains itself — were  so  steep  and  sharp,  Ogden  ordered 
all  hands  dismounted  and  half  the  packs  carried  up  on 
the  men's  backs.  It  was  high  up  the  mountain,  and 
the  snow  that  falls  almost  continuously  in  winter 
above  tree  line  made  the  rocks  slippery  as  ice.  For 
a  few  days,  owing  to  the  altitude  and  cold,  no  beaver 
had  been  taken,  no  game  seen.  The  men  were  toil- 
ing on  empty  stomachs  and  short  tempers.  Night 
fell  with  all  hands  still  sweating  up  the  slippery  rocks. 
A  slave  Indian  lost  his  self  control  and  struck  Jo. 
Despard,  one  of  the  freemen,  on  the  back.  Throw- 
ing down  his  load,  Despard  beat  the  rascal  soundly, 
but  when  the  battle  was  over  and  all  the  bad  temper 
expended,  the  slave  Indian  was  dead.  Poor  Despard 
was  mad  with  grief,  for  no  death  was  ever  passed  un- 
punished by  the  Hudson's  Bay.  Sewing  the  mur- 
dered man  in  rolls  of  buffalo  skin,  they  buried  him 
with  service  of  prayers  on  the  lonely  heights  of  the 
Blue  Mountains.  "It  is  not  in  my  power,"  writes 
Ogden,  **to  send  Despard  to  Vancouver.  Until  we 
return  to  the  headwaters,  I  will  let  the  affair  remain 
quiet.    The  poor  fellow  is  wretched  over  the  murder.'* 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

During  the  march  eastward  across  the  valleys, 
between  the  Cascade  range  and  the  Rockies,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  traps  for  beaver  were  set  out  each 
night.  In  the  mornings,  when  camp  was  broken, 
from  thirty  to  sixty  beaver  were  considered  a  good 
night's  work.  Snake  Indians  were  met  and  a  guide 
engaged,  but  the  Snakes  were  notorious  horse  thieves, 
and  a  guard  was  kept  la^und  the  horses  each  night. 
Ogden  makes  a  curious  discovery  about  the  beaver  in 
this  region.  "  Owing  to  the  mildness  of  the  climate," 
he  writes,  "beaver  here  do  not  lay  up  a  stock  of  pro- 
visions as  in  cold  countries."  As  the  cold  of  mid- 
winter came,  the  beaver  seemed  simply  to  disappear 
to  other  haunts.  In  vain,  the  men  chiselled  and 
trenched  the  ice  of  the  rivers  above  and  below 
the  beaver  dams.  The  beaver  houses  were  found 
empty.  Tom  McKay  was  scouring  the  cut-rocks 
for  game  with  his  band  of  hunters ;  but  it  is  the  sea- 
son when  game  leaves  the  cut-rocks,  and  night  after 
night  the  tired  hunters  came  in  hungry  and  empty 
handed.  The  few  beavers  trapped  were  frequently 
stolen  at  night,  for  there  are  no  ten  commandments 
to  hungry  men,  and  in  spite  of  cold  and  wet  the 
trappers  began  sleeping  in  the  swamps  near  their 
traps  to  keep  guard.  "  If  we  do  not  soon  find  game," 
writes  Ogden  on  December  22nd,  "we  shall  surely 
starve.     My  Indian  guide  threatens  to  leave  us.     If 

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we  could  only  find  the  headwaters  of  the  Snake  with- 
out him,  he  might  go  to  the  devil.  We  do  not  see  the 
trace  of  an  animal.  I  feel  very  uneasy  about  food. 
Sunday,  December  25th — This  being  Christmas,  all 
hands  remained  in  camp  and  I  held  prayers.  The 
cold  increases.  Prospects,  gloomy;  not  twenty 
pounds  of  food  in  camp.  If  we  escape  starvation, 
God  preserve  us,  it  will  depend  on  Tom  McKay's 
hunters.  On  collecting  our  horses,  we  found  one- 
third  limping.  Many  of  them  could  not  stand  and 
lay  helpless  on  the  plain.  If  this  cold  does  not  soon 
pass,  my  situation  with  so  many  men  will  be  terrible. 
December  31st — One  of  the  freemen,  three  days  with- 
out food,  killed  one  of  our  horses.  This  example  will 
soon  be  followed  by  others.  Only  one  beaver  to-day. 
Gave  the  men  half  rations  for  to-morrow,  which  will 
be  devoured  to-night,  as  three-quarters  in  camp  have 
been  two  days  without  food.  Sunday,  New  Year's, 
1826 — Remained  in  camp.  Gave  all  hands  a  dram. 
We  had  more  fasting  than  feasting.  This  is  the  first 
New  Year's  day  since  I  came  to  the  fur  country  that 
my  men  were  without  food.  Only  four  beaver  to- 
day. Sent  my  men  to  the  mountains  for  deer.  Our 
horses  can  scarcely  crawl  for  want  of  grass;  but 
march  they  must,  or  we  starve.  In  the  evening, 
Tom  McKay  and  men  arrived  without  seeing  the 
track  of  an  animal,  so  this  blasts  my  hope.    What 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

will  become  of  us?  So  many  are  starving  in  camp 
that  they  start  before  daylight  to  steal  beaver  out  of 
their  neighbors'  traps.  Had  the  laconic  pleasure  oj 
seeing  a  raven  watching  us  to-day!  The  wolves 
follow  our  camp.  Two  horses  killed  for  the  kettle. 
January  nth — Reached  the  source  of  Day's  River. 
Our  horses  are  too  lame  to  move.  A  horrible  road 
we  have  had  for  ten  days  of  rock  and  stone.  We  have 
taken  in  all  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  beaver  and 
nine  otter  here.  Our  course  is  due  east  over  barren 
hills,  a  lofty  range  of  mountains  on  both  sides  covered 
with  Norway  pines.  Thank  God  if  we  can  cross 
these  mountains  I  trust  to  reach  Snake  River. 
There  are  six  feet  of  snow  on  the  mountain  pass  here. 
We  must  try  another.  For  ten  days  we  have  had 
only  one  meal  every  two  days.  January  29th — A 
horse  this  day  killed — his  hoof  was  found  entirely 
worn  away,  only  the  raw  stump  left." 

February  2nd,  they  left  the  streams  flowing  west 
and  began  following  down  a  canon  of  burnt  windfall 
along  the  banks  of  a  river  that  ran  northeast.  The 
divide  had  been  crossed,  and  the  worn  bronchos 
were  the  first  to  realize  that  the  trails  of  the  mountains 
were  passed.  Suddenly  pricking  forward,  they  gal- 
loped full  pace  into  the  valley  of  Burnt  River,  a 
tributary  of  the  Snake.  "A  more  gloomy  looking 
country,"  writes  Ogden,  "I  never  saw.     We  have 

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been  on  short  allowance  too  long  and  all  resemble  so 
many  skeletons.  We  are  skin  and  bone.  More 
beggarly  looking  fellows  the  world  could  not  produce. 
All  the  gay  trappings  at  the  beginning  of  the  march 
have  disappeared.  Still  I  have  no  complaint  of  my 
men.  Day  after  day,  they  labor  in  quest  of  food 
and  beaver  without  shoe  or  moccasin  to  their  feet 
The  frozen  ground  is  hardly  comfortable  for  people 
so  scantily  clothed.  Ten  days  east  is  the  buffalo 
country  of  the  plains,  but  in  our  present  weak  state, 
we  could  not  reach  it  in  a  month."  Ogden  was  now 
in  the  beaver  country  of  the  Snakes  and  to  avoid  star- 
vation divided  his  brigade  into  small  bands  under 
McKay  and  Gervais  and  Sylvaille.  These,  he  scat- 
tered along  the  tributaries  of  the  Snake  River  north 
and  south,  in  what  are  now  known  as  Oregon  and 
Idaho,  some  to  the  "Rivier  Malheur  (Unfortunate 
River)  so-called  because  this  is  the  place  where  our 
goods  were  discovered  and  stolen  by  the  Americans 
last  year";  others  to  Sandwich  Island  River,  and 
Reed's  River,  and  Payette's  and  the  Malade, 
given  this  name  because  beaver  here  lived  on 
some  root  which  made  the  flesh  poisonous  to  the 
trapper. 

Few  Snakes  were  met,  because  this  was  the  season 
when  the  Snakes  went  buffalo  hunting,  but  "in  our 
travels  this  day  (26  February)  we  saw  a  Snake  In- 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

dian's  hut  near  the  road.  Curiosity  induced  me  to 
enter.  I  had  often  heard  these  wretches  subsisted 
on  ants,  locusts  and  small  fish  not  larger  than  min- 
nies  (minnows) ;  and  I  wanted  to  find  out  if  it  were 
not  an  exaggeration,  but  to  my  surprise  I  found  it 
was  true.  One  of  the  dishes  was  filled  with  ants 
collected  in  the  morning  before  the  thaw  commences. 
The  locusts  are  gathered  in  summer  in  store  for  the 
winter.  The  Indians  prefer  the  ants.  On  this  food 
the  poor  wretches  drag  out  existence  for  four  months 
of  the  year  and  are  happy.  During  February,  we 
took  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  beaver.  Had  the 
weather  been  mild,  we  should  have  had  three  thou- 
sand. An  incredible  number  of  deer  here,  but  only 
skin  and  bone,  nevertheless  most  exceptable  (?) 
to  us  starving."  He  mentions  that  it  was  on  Sickly 
or  Malade  River  that  the  Blackfeet  killed  one  of  his 
men  the  preceding  year.  "  If  the  Americans  have  not 
been  here  since,  we  shall  find  beaver."  On  the  13th 
of  March,  McKay  came  in  with  a  dozen  elk,  and  the 
half-starved  hunters  sat  up  till  dawn  feasting.  But 
alas,  on  March  20th,  near  Raft  River,  came  a  camp 
of  Indians  with  word  "that  a  party  of  Americans  are 
not  three  days'  march  away.  If  this  be  true,  our 
hunts  are  damned.  We  may  prepare  to  go  home 
empty  handed.  With  my  discontented  men,  I  dread 
meeting  the  Americans.    After  the  sufferings  the 

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men  have  endured  with  me,  they  will  desert."  Snake 
camps  now  began  to  pass  westward  at  the  rate  of 
four  hundred  people  a  day,  carrying  their  supply  of 
buffalo  meat  and  also — what  struck  sorrow  to  Og- 
den's  heart — an  American  flag.  A  thousand  Snake 
warriors  were  on  the  way  to  the  Spanish  settlements 
of  the  South  to  trade  buffalo  meat  and  steal  horses. 
Near  the  American  Falls,  the  Brigade  fell  in  with 
marauding  Blackfeet,  friendly,  no  doubt,  because 
of  Ogden's  wife,  who  was  related  to  the  Northern 
tribes.  "The  Blackfeet  informed  me,  they  left  the 
Saskatchewan  in  December  and  were  in  quest  of  the 
Snakes,  but  finding  them  so  strong  did  not  attempt 
it.  They  consisted  of  eighty  men  with  the  usual 
reserve  of  twenty  or  thirty  Piegans  hidden  in  the 
hills.  March  31st — To-day,  twenty-seven  beaver, 
which  makes  our  first  thousand  with  two  to  begin 
the  second  thousand.  I  hope  to  reach  Fort  Van- 
couver with  three  thousand." 

"Sunday,  April  9th,  Portneuf  River,  headwaters  of 
the  Snake — About  10  A.  m.,  we  were  surprised  by  the 
arrival  of  a  party  of  Americans,  and  twenty-eight  of 
our  deserters  of  last  year.  If  we  were  surprised, 
they  were  more  so.  They  expected  their  threats  of 
last  year  would  prevent  us  returning  to  this  quarter, 
but  they  find  themselves  mistaken.  They  encamped 
a  short  distance  away.    With  the  glass,  we  could 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

observe  the  Blackfeet  on  the  hills  spying  on  our 
movements. 

"  Monday,  April  loth — The  strangers  have  paid  me 
a  visit.  I  had  a  busy  day  settling  old  scores  with 
them  and  more  to  my  satisfaction  and  the  Company's 
than  last  year's  disaster.  We  received  from  them 
eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  beaver 
in  payment  of  their  debts  due  the  company  and  two 
notes  of  hand  from  Mr.  Monton.  We  secured  all  the 
heaver  they  had.  Our  deserters  are  tired  of  their 
new  masters  and  will  soon  return  to  us.  How  the 
Americans  make  profit  when  they  pay  $3.00  per 
pound  for  beaver,  I  cannot  imagine.  Within  ten 
months  the  Indians  have  stolen  one  hundred  and 
eighty  traps  from  these  Americans." 

In  those  few  words,  does  Peter  Skene  Ogden  record 
an  episode  that  has  puzzled  the  West  for  fifty  years. 
How  did  these  Americans  come  to  sell  all  the  beaver 
they  had  to  him,  at  less  than  they  had  paid,  for  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  never  paid  $3.00  a  beaver? 
Were  they  short  of  powder  as  well  as  traps?  And 
what  old  score  was  Ogden  paying  off?  What  had 
happened  to  him  the  year  before?  Was  that  the 
year  when  the  Americans  stampeded  his  horses? 
The  record  of  Ogden's  1824-25  trip  has  been  either 
lost  or  destroyed,  and  the  Americans'  version  of  the 
story  was  very  vague.     General  Ashley's  hunters 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

had  gone  up  from  St.  Louis  and  were  in  the  moun- 
tains destitute.  Suddenly,  they  met  Ogden's  bri- 
gade on  the  banks  of  the  Snake  north  of  Salt  Lake. 
When  the  rival  hunters  parted,  Ogden  was  destitute 
and  the  Americans  had  Hudson's  Bay  furs  variously 
valued  at  from  $75,000  to  $350,000 — a  variation  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  the  St.  Louis  traders 
valued  beaver  five  times  higher  than  the  Hudson's 
Bay.  The  legend  is  that  Ogden's  men  were  de- 
moralized by  laudanum  and  whiskey.  He  acknowl- 
edges that  twenty-eight  of  his  men  deserted.  If  the 
deserters  took  their  furs  with  them,  the  transaction 
is  explained.  The  Hudson's  Bay  would  be  out  of 
pocket  not  only  the  furs  but  the  hunting  outfit  to  the 
men.  Ashley's  record  of  the  matter  was  that  he 
got  "a  fortune  in  furs  for  a  song."  Whatever  the 
explanation,  Ogden  now  scored  off  the  grudge.  He 
took  the  entire  hunt  from  his  rivals  and  exacted  two 
promissory  notes  for  former  debts. 

With  almost  10,000  beaver,  Ogden  now  led  his  bri- 
gade down  the  Snake  northwest  for  Fort  Vancouver 
on  the  Columbia.  "The  Blackfeet,"  he  writes, 
"have  set  fire  to  the  plains  to  destroy  us,  and  collect 
war  parties  to  surround  us.  May  6th — It  began 
to  snow  and  continued  all  night.  Our  trappers 
come  in  almost  frozen.  Naked  as  many  are  and 
without  shoes,  it  is  surprising  not  a  murmur  or  com- 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

plaint  do  I  hear.  Such  men  are  worthy  to  follow 
a  Franklin  to  the  Pole.  Two-thirds  are  without 
blanket  or  any  shelter  and  have  been  so  for  the  last 
six  months.  This  day,  thirty-four  beaver  from  the 
traps.  Sunday,  June  i8th — All  along  the  plains  of 
Snake  River  are  women  digging  the  bitter  root. 
Their  stones  are  sharp  as  flint.  Our  tracks  could  be 
followed  by  the  blood  from  our  horses'  feet."  From 
the  headwaters  of  Day's  River,  the  brigade  wound 
across  westward  to  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Willa- 
mette. "A  finer  stream  is  not  to  be  found,"  relates 
Ogden  of  the  valley  that  was  to  become  famous. 
"All  things  grown  in  abundance  here.  One  could 
enjoy  every  comfort  here  with  little  labor.  The  dis- 
tance from  the  ocean  is  ninety  miles.  No  doubt  in 
years  a  colony  will  be  formed  on  the  stream  and  I 
am  of  opinion  it  will  flourish  with  little  care.  Thus 
ends  my  second  trip  to  the  Snake  Country."  The 
accuracy  of  Ogden's  prophecy  is  fulfilled  in  prosper- 
ous cities  on  the  banks  of  the  Willamette  to-day. 

So  far,  the  Oregon  brigades  had  not  gone  south 
over  the  height  of  land  that  divides  the  Columbia 
from  the  Sacramento,  but  as  they  had  followed  up 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Willamette  and  the  River 
of  the  Falls  and  John  Day's  River,  they  found  their 
sources  in   those  high,   beautiful  Alpine  meadows 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

just  fringed  by  trees,  walled  in  by  the  snowy  peaks 
and  presenting  the  peculiar  phenomenon  of  swamps 
above  the  clouds.  Here  were  beaver  runs  and 
houses  in  a  network.  Seventy  beaver  a  day — each 
worth  two  dollars  to  the  trapper — the  hundred  traps 
set  out  each  night — yielded  in  these  uplands.  But 
many  of  the  mountain  torrents,  that  took  their  rise 
in  these  swamps,  flowed  south  and  west.  Would 
these  streams,  too,  yield  as  rich  harvest  of  beaver? 
"The  country  must  be  explored,"  writes  Ogden, 
"though  we  may  waste  our  pains  doing  it";  and  he 
steered  his  brigade  of  1826-27  to  that  region,  which 
was  to  become  so  famous  for  its  gold  and  silver 
mines,  California  and  Nevada. 

Striking  straight  south  from  the  Dalles  of  the 
Columbia,  Ogden  had  twenty-five  trappers  behind 
in  line.  Tom  McKay,  the  hunter,  marched  to  the 
fore  with  twenty-five  more.  Gervais  and  Sylvaille 
and  Payette  each  boasted  a  following  of  five  or  six, 
some  seventy  men  all  told,  not  including  the  women 
and  Indian  hangers-on.  From  the  first  night  out, 
horse  thieves  hung  on  the  heels  of  the  marchers. 
Half  way  up  the  River  of  the  Falls,  one  night  in 
October,  when  a  high,  dry  wind  was  blowing  a  gale, 
and  the  brigade  had  camped  in  a  meadow  of  brittle 
rushes  seven  feet  high,  the  horse  thieves  drew  off  in 
hiding  till  the  hunters'  ponies  had  been  turned  loose. 

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The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Then  they  set  fire  to  the  grass  and  swooped  down 
with  a  yell  to  stampede  the  camp.  But  Tom  Mc- 
Kay was  too  keen  a  hunter  to  be  caught  napping. 
Mounted  on  his  favorite  cayuse,  he  was  off  through 
the  swale  like  an  arrow  and  rounded  the  entire  bri- 
gade into  a  swamp  of  willows,  where  fire  could  not 
come.  Another  time,  Payette  and  that  Pierre,  whose 
death  a  few  years  later  gave  his  name  to  the  famous 
trappers'  rendezvous  of  Pierre's  Hole,  had  gone  over 
a  hillock  to  set  their  traps  in  a  fresh  valley,  when 
they  came  on  seven  of  their  own  horses  being  quietly 
driven  off  by  two  Snake  Indians.  With  a  shout,  the 
two  indignant  trappers  fell  on  the  Indians  with  fists 
and  clubs.  Indian  spies,  watching  from  ambush, 
dashed  to  the  rescue,  with  the  result  that  four  of  the 
horses  were  shot,  three  rushed  off  to  the  hills,  and 
the  two  trappers  left  weltering  in  blood  more  dead 
than  alive.  Ogden  thus  expresses  his  feelings:  "It 
is  disgraceful.  The  Indians  have  a  contempt  for  all 
traders.  For  the  murders  committed  not  one  ex- 
ample has  been  made.  They  give  us  no  credit  for 
humanity  but  attribute  our  not  revenging  murders 
to  cowardice.  If  opportunity  offers  for  murder  or 
theft,  they  never  allow  it  to  pass.  I  am  of  opinion 
if  on  first  discovery  of  a  strange  tribe,  a  dozen  Indians 
were  shot,  it  would  be  the  means  of  saving  many 
lives.    Had  this  plan  been  adopted  with  the  Snakes, 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

they  would  not  have  been  so  daring  and  murdered 
forty  of  our  men  in  a  few  years.  Scripture  gives  us 
a  right  to  retaliate  for  murder.  If  we  have  means  to 
prevent  murder,  why  not  use  them?  Why  allow 
ourselves  to  be  butchered  and  our  property  stolen  by 
such  vile  wretches  not  fit  to  be  numbered  among  the 
living  and  the  sooner  dead,  the  better?  ...  It 
is  incredible  the  number  of  Snake  Indians  here.  We 
cannot  go  ten  yards  without  finding  their  huts  of 
grass.  No  Indian  nation  in  all  North  America  is  so 
numerous  as  the  Upper  and  Lajver  Snakes,  the  latter 
as  wild  as  deer.  They  lead  a  most  wretched  life. 
An  old  woman  camped  among  us  the  other  night. 
She  says  from  the  severe  wfeather  last  winter,  her 
people  were  reduced  for  want  of  food  to  subsist  on 
the  bodies  of  their  children.  She,  herself,  did  not 
kill  any  one,  but  fed  on  two  of  her  children  who  died 
of  starvation — an  encouraging  example  for  us  at 
present,  reduced  to  one  meal  a  day." 

By  November,  the  brigades  were  on  the  height 
of  land  between  the  Sacramento  and  the  Columbia, 
in  the  regions  of  alkali  plains  and  desert  mountains 
in  northern  California  and  Nevada.  Ogden  at  once 
sent  back  word  of  his  whereabouts  to  Chief  Factor 
McLoughlin  of  Fort  Vancouver,  little  dreaming  that 
the  trail  southward,  which  he  was  now  finding, 
would  be  marked  by  the  bleaching  bones  of  treasure 

283 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

hunters  in  the  rush  to  the  gold  mines.  Trappers 
under  McKay  and  Gervais  and  Sylvaille  were  spread 
out  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Willamette,  and  the 
Klamath  and  the  Sacramento;  but  the  dusty  alkali 
plains  were  too  dry  for  beaver.  In  three  months,  only 
five  hundred  were  taken,  while  man  and  beast  were 
reduced  to  extremity  of  endurance  from  lack  of  food 
and  water.  By  the  i6th,  they  were  on  the  very  apex 
of  the  divide,  a  parched,  alkali  plain,  where  the  men 
got  water  by  scooping  snow  from  the  crevices  of  the 
rocks  and  tried  to  slake  their  horses'  thirst  by  drib- 
lets of  snow-water  in  skin-bags.  Two  thirst-mad- 
dened horses  dropped  dead  on  the  march,  the  fam- 
ished trappers  devouring  the  raw  flesh  like  ravenous 
wolves.  Two  little  lakes,  or  alkali  sinks  were  found 
— ''a  Godsend  to  us" — writes  Ogden,  and  the  horses 
plunged  in  to  saddle  girths  drinking  of  the  stagnant, 
brackish  stench.  From  where  they  paused  to  camp 
— though  there  was  neither  wood  nor  sage  bush  for 
fire — they  could  see  the  Umpqua  in  the  far  north, 
the  Klamath  straight  northwest,  a  river  which  they 
did  not  know  was  the  Sacramento,  south;  and  tower- 
ing in  the  west  above  the  endless  alkali  and  lava 
beds  of  the  plains  stretching  east,  the  cones  of  a 
giant  mountain  high  as  Hood  or  Baker,  opalescent 
and  snow-capped.  Ogden  named  both  the  moun- 
tain and  the  river  here  Shasta,  after  the  name  of  the 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

Indian  tribes  whom  he  met.  He  was  on  the  border- 
lands of  California,  on  the  trail  which  thousands  of 
goldseekers  were  to  follow  from  Oregon  in  '49. 

Speaking  of  the  Klamath  Indians,  he  says:  "They 
live  in  tents  built  on  the  water  of  their  lakes,  ap- 
proachable only  by  canoes.  The  tents  are  of  logs 
like  block  houses,  the  foundation  stone  or  gravel  made 
solid  by  piles  sunk  six  feet  deep.  The  Indians  re- 
gretted we  had  found  our  way  through  the  mountains. 
They  said,  'the  Cayuses  tried  to  attack  us,  but  could 
not  find  the  trail.    Now  they  will  follow  yours.' " 

McKay  had  brought  in  only  seven  hundred  beaver 
from  his  various  raids  on  the  waters  west  of  Shasta. 
In  these  alkali  swamps  were  no  beaver.  Ogden  had 
explored  the  height  of  land.  He  now  determined  to 
cross  the  alkali  desert  eastward  while  there  was  still 
a  chance  of  winter  snow  and  rain  quenching  thirst; 
and  he  only  awaited  the  return  of  his  messengers 
from  McLoughlin,  "Friday,  December  2nd — Late 
last  night,  I  was  overjoyed  by  the  arrival  of  my  ex- 
pressmen from  the  fort.  One  of  the  trappers  hunt- 
ing lost  horses  discovered  them;  otherwise,  they 
would  never  have  reached  camp.  They  could  no 
longer  walk  and  were  crawling.  For  fourteen  days 
they  had  been  without  food,  for  nine  days  without 
quenching  thirst.  Their  horses  were  stolen  by  the 
Snakes.     On  entering  my  lodge,  the  poor  man  fell 

285 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

from  weakness  and  could  not  rise.  I  immediately 
sent  back  for  the  other  man.  About  midnight  he 
was  brought  in,  thank  God,  safe!"  Christmas  was 
spent  on  the  edge  of  the  desert :  ''  Did  not  raise  camp. 
We  are  reduced  to  one  meal  a  day.  Discontent  pre- 
vails. We  have  yet  three  months  of  winter  travel. 
God  grant  them  well  over  and  that  our  horses  escape 
the  kettle.  I  am  the  most  unfortunate  man  on 
earth,  but  God's  will  be  done." 

Possibly,  Ogden's  low  spirits  may  be  traced  to 
drinking  that  alkali  water  on  the  divide.  For  two 
months  the  whole  camp  suffered.  The  brigade  was 
still  among  the  Shastas  and  Klamaths  in  February, 
and  Ogden  records  a  curious  incident  of  one  Indian : 
"Among  our  visitors  is  a  man  with  only  one  arm.  I 
asked  him  how  he  lost  the  other.  He  informed  me 
the  other  arm  was  badly  wounded  in  battle,  very 
painful  and  would  not  heal;  so  he  cut  it  off  himself 
three  inches  below  the  socket  with  his  flint  knife  and 
axe  made  of  flint.  It  is  three  years  since.  He 
healed  it  with  roots  and  is  free  from  pain."  Rains 
now  began  to  fall  in  such  torrents  the  leather  tents 
fell  to  pieces  from  rain  rot  and  for  twenty  days  not  a 
blanket  in  camp  was  dry.  Ogden  set  out  to  cruise 
across  the  desert,  thankful  that  sickness  quieted  the 
cravings  for  food.  Shasta  River  was  left  on  the  rear 
on  March  13th,  "our  unruly  guide  being  forcibly  tied 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

on  horseback  by  ropes  and  all  hands  obliged  to  sleep 
in  pouring  rains  without  blankets.  Not  one  com- 
plaint in  camp.  This  life  makes  a  young  man  old. 
Wading  in  swamps  ice-cold  all  day,  the  trappers  earn 
their  ten  shillings  for  beaver.  A  convict  at  Botany 
Bay  has  a  gentleman's  existence  compared  to  my 
poor  fellows.  March  26th — Our  guide  discovered  a 
grizzly  bear.  One  of  the  trappers  aimed  but  only 
wounded  it.  Our  guide  asked  permission  to  persue 
it.  Stripping  himself  naked,  armed  only  with  an 
axe,  he  rushed  after  the  bear,  but  he  paid  dearly  for 
the  rashness,  for  his  eyes  were  literally  torn  out,  and 
the  bear  escaped  to  the  sage-bush." 

The  guide  had  to  be  left  with  his  tribe  and  the 
white  men  to  shift  for  themselves  crossing  the  desert. 
Knowing  vaguely  that  Snake  River  was  northeast, 
Ogden  struck  across  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
Nevada  desert.  Desert  of  Death  it  was  called  among 
the  trappers.  Each  night  a  call  was  made  for  volun- 
teers, and  two  men  set  out  by  moonlight  to  go  ahead 
and  hunt  water  for  the  next  camp.  The  water  was 
often  only  a  lava  sink,  into  which  horses  and  men 
would  dash,  coming  out,  as  Ogden  describes  it,  "look- 
ing blistered  and  as  if  they  had  been  pickled."  Some- 
times, the  trail  seekers  came  back  at  day-dawn  with 
word  there  was  no  water  ahead.  Then  Ogden  sat 
still  beside  his  mud  lakes,  or  stagnant  pools  whose 

287 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

stench  sickened  man  and  beast,  and  sent  out  fresh 
men  by  twos  in  another  direction  till  water  was 
found.  Again  and  again  he  repeats  the  words:  "It 
is  critical,  but  the  country  must  be  explored  if  we  can 
find  water  to  advance.  .  .  .  We  can't  go  on 
without  water,  but  the  country  must  not  remain  un- 
known any  longer.  There  are  Snake  huts  ahead. 
There  must  be  muddy  lakes  somewhere.  June  2nd 
— I  sent  two  men  to  proceed  southeast  and  try  that 
direction.  They  will  march  all  night  to  escape  the 
heat.  If  we  do  not  succeed  in  that  direction,  our 
starvation  is  certain.  Suftday,  June  3rd — 8  A.  m., 
the  two  men  arrived  and  report  nothing  but  barren 
plains — no  water.  No  hope  in  that  direction.  I 
at  once  ordered  the  men  off  again  northeast.  They 
left  at  9  A.  M.  All  in  camp  very  sick  owing  to  stag- 
nant water.  If  I  escape  this  year,  I  will  not  be 
doomed  to  come  again.  June  4th,  at  dawn  of  day, 
men  came  back.  They  found  water,  where  we 
camped  last  fall  (on  the  Snake).  At  9  A.  M.  we 
started  quick  pace,  sauve  qui  pent  over  dreary,  deso- 
late, sandy  country,  horses  panting  from  thirst.  At 
6  A.  M.,  June  6th,  we  reached  water  to  the  joy  of  all." 
They  were  really  on  the  upper  forks  of  Sandwich 
and  Malheur  rivers.  The  end  of  July  saw  the  horses 
of  the  brigade  pasturing  in  the  flowery  meadows  at 
Walla  Walla  and  the  happy  trappers  forgetful  of  all 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

past  miseries,  sweeping  down  the  swift  current  of 
the  Columbia  for  Fort  Vancouver,  where  Doctor 
McLoughlin  awaited  with  a  blessing  for  each  man. 

Ogden  had  vowed  he  would  not  be  doomed  to 
cruise  in  the  wilderness  another  year.  He  reached 
Vancouver  in  July.  On  August  24th,  he  was  again  at 
the  head  of  the  Oregon  brigade,  leading  off  from 
Walla  Walla  for  the  Grande  Ronde,  a  famous  valley 
of  the  Snake  where  the  buffalo  runners  gathered  to 
trade  with  the  mountaineers  and  coastal  tribes. 
There  was  good  pasturage  summer  and  winter.  A 
beautiful  stream  ran  through  the  meadow  and  moun- 
tains sheltered  it  from  all  but  the  warm  west  winds. 
Indian  women  came  here  to  gather  the  camas  root 
and  set  out  from  the  Grande  Ronde  in  spring  for  the 
buffalo  hunts  of  the  plains.  Here,  trappers  could 
meet  half  a  dozen  tribes  in  friendly  trade  and  buy 
the  cayuse  ponies  for  the  long  trips  across  the  moun- 
tains to  the  Missouri,  or  up  the  Snake  to  Great  Salt 
Lake,  or  across  the  South  Pass  to  the  Platte.  Ogden 
divided  his  brigade  as  usual  into  different  parties 
under  McKay  and  Payette  and  Sylvaille,  scattering 
his  trappers  on  both  sides  of  the  Snake  south  as  far 
as  the  bounds  of  the  present  State  of  Utah. 

Toward  the  end  of  September,  when  in  the  region 
of  Salmon  Falls  on  the  Snake,  he  was  disgusted  to 
encounter  a  rival  party  of  forty  American  traders 

289 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

led  by  a  man  named  Johnson.  "  My  sanguine  hopes 
of  beaver  are  blasted,"  he  despairingly  writes.  "I 
am  camped  with  the  Americans.  Their  trappers  are 
everywhere.  They  will  not  part  with  a  single  beaver. 
Kept  advancing  south.  The  Americans  informed 
me  they  meant  to  keep  on  my  trail  right  down  to  the 
Columbia.  We  are  surrounded  by  Blackfeet  and 
Snakes  bound  to  the  buffalo  hunt.  I  am  uneasy. 
The  Snake  camp  has  upward  of  fifteen  hundred 
warriors  and  three  thousand  horses.  We  are  in  full 
view  of  the  Pilot  Knobs  or  Three  Tetons  where  rise 
the  waters  of  the  Columbia,  the  Missouri,  and  the 
Spanish  River.  The  waters  of  Goddin's  River  dis- 
appear in  this  plain,  taking  a  subterraneous  route  to 
Snake  River.  The  chief  of  the  Snakes  carries  an 
American  flag.  The  headquarters  of  the  Americans 
are  south  of  Salt  Lake  (on  Green  River).  Decem- 
ber 14th — Another  party  of  six  under  a  leader  named 
TuUock,  a  decent  fellow,  has  joined  us.  He  told  me 
his  Company  wished  to  enter  an  agreement  with  the 
Hudson's  Bay  regarding  the  return  and  debts  of 
deserters  who  go  from  us  to  them,  or  from  them  to  us. 
He  says  the  conduct  of  Gardner  at  our  meeting  four 
years  ago" — when  Ogden  was  robbed — "has  not 
been  approved.  Our  trappers  have  their  goods  on 
moderate  terms,  but  the  price  we  pay  them  for  beaver 
is  low  compared  to  the  Americans.     The  Americans 

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Journals  of  Peter  SIcene  Ogden 

pay  $5.00  for  beaver  large  or  small.  We  pay  $2.00 
for  large  and  $i.cxd  for  small.  Here  is  a  wide  differ- 
ence to  the  free  trapper.  If  he  takes  his  furs  to  St. 
Louis,  he  will  get  $5.50.  Most  of  the  American 
trappers  have  the  following  plan:  Goods  are  sold  to 
them  at  150  per  cent,  advance,  but  delivered  to  them 
here  in  the  Snake  country.  Not  requiring  to  trans- 
port their  provisions,  they  need  few  horses.  For 
three  years.  General  Ashley  has  brought  supplies  to 
this  country  from  St.  Louis  and  in  that  time  cleared 
$80,000  and  retired,  selling  his  goods  at  an  advance 
of  150  per  cent.,  payable  in  five  years  in  beaver  at 
$5.00  a  beaver.  Three  young  men.  Smith,  Jackson, 
Sublette,  bought  the  goods  and  in  the  first  year  cleared 
$20,000.  Finding  themselves  alone,  they  sold  their 
goods  to  the  Indians  one-third  dearer  than  Ashley 
did.  What  a  contrast  to  myself.  They  will  be  in- 
dependent in  a  few  years."  It  may  be  explained 
that  Ogden's  prediction  of  these  American  trappers 
was  fulfilled.  Those  who  were  not  killed  in  the 
Indian  country  retired  rich  magnates  of  St.  Louis, 
to  become  governors  and  senators  and  men  of  honor 
in  their  state. 

But  Ogden  could  not  forget  these  men  were  of  the 
same  company  who  had  robbed  him  four  years  be- 
fore, and  when  snow  fell  six  feet  deep  in  the  mountain 
pass  to  Green  River,  Ogden  laid  his  plans  to  pay 

291 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

back  the  grudge  in  his  own  suave  way.  "Tullock, 
the  American,  who  failed  to  get  through  the  snow  to 
Salt  Lake,  tried  to  engage  an  Indian  to  carry  letters 
to  the  American  camp.  This,  I  cannot  prevent. 
/  cannot  bribe  all  the  Indians,  but  I  have  succeeded 
in  keeping  them  from  making  snowshoes  for  the 
Americans.  The  Americans  are  very  low  spirited. 
They  cannot  hire  a  messenger  or  purchase  snowshoes, 
nor  do  they  suspect  that  I  prevent  it.  I  have  sup- 
plied them  with  meat,  as  they  cannot  kill  buffalo 
without  snowshoes.  I  dread  if  they  go  down  to 
Salt  Lake,  they  will  return  with  liquor.  A  small 
quantity  would  be  most  advantageous  to  them  but 
the  reverse  to  me.  If  I  had  the  same  chance  they 
have  (a  camp  near)  long  since  I  would  have  had  a 
good  stock  of  liquor  here;  and  every  beaver  in  the 
camp  would  be  mine.  As  all  their  traps  have  been 
stolen  but  ten,  no  good  can  result  from  their  reaching 
their  camp  and  returning  here.  We  have  this  in  our 
favor — they  have  a  mountain  to  cross  and  before 
the  snow  melts  can  bring  but  little  from  Green  River 
here." 

Three  times  the  Americans  set  out  for  their  ren- 
dezvous south  of  Salt  Lake,  and  three  times  were 
driven  back  by  the  weather.  "It  is  laughable," 
chuckles  the  crafty  Briton,  who  was  secretly  pulling 
the  strings  that  prevented  his  rivals  getting  either 

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Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

goods  or  snowshoes.  "It  is  laughable,  so  many  at- 
tempts, and  no  success.  They  have  only  twenty- 
four  horses  left.  The  rest  of  the  fifty  they  brought 
are  dead  from  cold.  I  have  small  hope  that  our  own 
horses  can  escape,  but  I  can  cover  them  with  robes 
each  night." 

On  the  i6th  of  March,  the  entire  encampment  of 
Americans  and  Hudson's  Bay  were  paralyzed  with 
amazement  at  a  spectacle  that  was  probably  never 
seen  before  or  since  so  far  south  in  the  mountains — 
messengers  coming  through  the  snow-blocked  moun- 
tain pass  from  the  American  camp  on  Green  River 
by  means  of  dog  sleds.  *'It  was  a  novel  sight  to  see 
trappers  arrive  with  dogs  and  sleds  in  this  part  of 
the  world ;  for  usually,  not  two  inches  of  snow  are  to 
be  found  here.  They  brought  the  old  story,  of 
course,  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  soon 
to  quit  the  Columbia.  At  all  events  the  treaty  of 
joint  occupation  does  not  expire  till  November.  By 
their  arrival,  a  new  stock  of  cards  has  come  to  camp, 
and  the  trappers  are  gambling  day  and  night.  Some 
have  already  lost  upwards  of  eight  hundred  beaver. 
Old  Goddin,  who  left  me  last  year,  goes  to  St.  Louis, 
having  sold  his  eight  horses  and  ten  traps  for  $1,500. 
His  hunt  is  worth  $600.00  more,  which  makes  him 
an  independent  man.  In  our  Hudson's  Bay  service, 
with  the  strictest  economy,  he  could  scarcely  save 

293 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

that  in  ten  years.  Is  it  any  wonder  the  trappers 
prefer  the  American  service?  The  American  trader, 
Mr.  Campbell,  said  their  treatment  of  me  four  years 
ago  is  greatly  regretted.  The  Americans  leave  for 
the  Kootenay  Country  of  the  North.  We  separate  on 
the  best  of  terms.  They  told  me  their  traders  from 
St.  Louis  failed  to  arrive  last  fall  owing  to  severe 
weather  and  their  camp  south  of  Salt  Lake  had  been 
attacked  by  Blackfeet,  and  Pierre,  my  old  Iroquois, 
was  cut  to  pieces."  In  other  words,  Ogden's  narra- 
tive proves  that  the  St.  Louis  traders,  with  a  camp  on 
the  upper  waters  of  Colorado  River,  had  gone  as  far 
north  as  Kootenay  by  1828.  I  fancy  this  will  be 
news  to  the  most  of  investigators,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  the  Hudson's  Bay  were  as  far  south  as  Califor- 
nia before  1828.  Two  months  later,  in  May,  on  his 
way  down  the  Snake  River  to  Vancouver,  Ogden  met 
a  large  band  of  Snake  warriors  returning  from  raiding 
the  Blackfeet  on  the  Saskatchewan.  In  the  loot  cap- 
tured from  the  Blackfeet,  were  the  clothes  and  entire 
camp  outfit  of  the  forty  Americans,  who  had  wintered 
with  Ogden,  a  convincing  enough  proof  of  foul  play. 
The  Snakes  reported  that  the  furs  of  the  Americans 
had  been  left  scattered  on  the  plains,  and  the  party, 
itself,  massacred.  "The  sight  of  this  booty  caused 
gloom  in  camp.  God  preserve  us  from  a  like  fate," 
writes  Ogden.     Two  weeks  later,  LaValle,  one  of 

294 


Journals  o/  Peicr  SL-cuc  Ogdcn 

his  own  trappers,  was  found  dead  beside  his  traps. 
Near-by  lay  a  canvas  wrapper  with  the  initials  of 
the  American  Fur  Company,  proof  that  the  ma- 
rauders had  been  the  same  band  of  Blackfeet  who 
attacked  the  Americans,  first  on  Green  River  and 
then  on  the  Saskatchewan. 

Ogden's  wanderings  had  now  taken  him  along  all 
the  southeastern  tributaries  of  the  Columbia  from 
Mt.  Shasta  across  California,  Nevada  and  Idaho  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Snake,  but  there  was  still  one 
beaver  region' unpenetrated  by  him — between  Salt 
Lake  desert  and  the  Nevada  desert.  In  crossing 
from  Mt.  Shasta  to  the  Snake,  he  had  but  scampered 
over  the  northern  edge  of  this  region,  and  hither  he 
steered  his  course  in  1828.  As  usual,  the  brigade 
went  up  the  valley  of  the  Walla  Walla,  pausing  in 
the  Grande  Ronde  to  prepare  tent  poles,  for  the 
year's  wandering  was  to  be  over  the  treeless  desert. 
Powder  River,  Burnt  River,  Malheur,  where  the 
Americans  had  robbed  him — were  passed  in  succes- 
sion. Then  Sandwich  Island  and  Portncuf  were 
trapped.  They  were  now  on  the  lx)rdcrs  of  the  arid, 
sage-bush  plains.  Ashley's  man,  Jim  Bridger,  some- 
time between  1824  and  1828,  had  found  the  south 
side  of  Salt  Lake;  and  as  early  as  1776,  the  Spaniards 
had  legends  of  its  waters.     Ogden  now  swung  four 

295 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

days'  march  southwest  and  explored  the  entire  sur- 
roundings of  Salt  Lake.  Then  he  struck  westward 
across  those  wastes  that  were  to  be  the  grave  of  so 
many  California  and  Nevada  gold-seekers.  High 
winds  swept  the  dry  dust  in  clouds  through  the  air. 
The  horses  sank  to  their  saddle  girths  through  the 
fine  sand,  and  hot  winds  were  succeeded  by  a  blan- 
keting fog,  that  obliterated  all  marks  of  direction,  so 
that  the  brigade  was  blindly  following  the  trail  of 
some  unknown  Indian  tribe.  "Nov.  ist,  7  A.  m. — 
Our  track  this  day  between  high  mountains  on  both 
sides  over  a  plain  covered  with  wormwood.  The 
scouts  saw  two  Indians,  whom  they  captured  and 
brought  to  camp.  More  stupid  brutes  I  never  saw. 
We  could  not  make  them  understand  our  meaning. 
Gave  one  a  looking  glass  and  set  them  at  liberty.  In 
less  than  ten  minutes,  they  were  far  from  us.  Had 
not  advanced  three  miles  next  morning  when  we 
found  three  large  lakes  covered  with  wild  fowl.  The 
waters  were  salt.  Next  day  the  men  in  advance 
discovered  the  trail  to  a  large  river.  Reached  a 
bend  in  the  river  and  camped.  Indians  numerous. 
They  fly  from  us  in  all  directions.  We  are  the  first 
whites  they  have  seen.  This  is  the  land  of  the  Utas. 
I  have  named  the  river  the  River  of  the  Lakes, 
not  a  wide  stream  but  certainly  a  long  one." 

Ogden  had  discovered  the  river  that  was  called 
296 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

by  his  own  name  among  trappers,  but  was  later 
named  Humboldt  by  Freemont.  To  his  great  joy, 
beaver  were  as  abundant  as  the  Indians.  The  traps 
set  out  each  night  yielded  sixty  beaver  each  morning. 
Ogden  at  once  scattered  his  brigade  in  three  direc- 
tions :  west  toward  Salt  Lake,  where  the  river  seemed 
to  but  did  not  take  its  rise ;  north  toward  the  forks  of 
the  Snake  four  days'  march  away,  and  southwest 
where  the  river  seemed  to  flow.  "Nov.  9th — One  of 
the  hunters  going  downstream  returned  with  word 
this  river  discharges  into  a  lake,  no  water  or  grass 
beyond,  only  hills  of  sand.  Advanced  to  the  lake 
and  camped.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  river  takes 
a  subterranean  passage  and  appears  again,  a  large 
stream  lined  with  willows.  So  glad  was  I  to  see  it, 
that  at  the  risk  of  my  life  I  dashed  over  swamps,  hills, 
and  rocks  to  it  and  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  a  beaver 
house  well  stocked.  Long  before  dawn  of  day, 
every  trap  and  trapper  was  in  motion.  As  dawn 
came,  the  camp  was  deserted.  Success  to  them  all! 
As  far  as  I  can  see,  this  river  flows  due  west.  Trappers 
arrived  at  night  with  fifty  beaver.  Indians  paid  us 
a  visit.  On  asking  them  what  they  did  with  their 
furs,  they  pointed  to  their  shoes.  Examination 
showed  them  to  be  made  of  beaver.  It  is  warm  here 
as  in  September  and  the  Indians  wear  no  clothing. 
They  are  without  houses  or  arrows  or  any  defence." 

297 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  jubilation  over  the  dis- 
covery of  a  large  river  and  the  success  in  trapping, 
one  of  the  hunters,  Jo  Paul,  the  same  Jo  Paul  who 
had  acted  as  guide  for  the  Nor'Westers  in  Athabasca, 
fell  dangerously  ill.  He  was  in  too  great  pain  to  be 
moved.  Yet  to  remain  for  the  sake  of  one  man 
meant  starvation  for  the  whole  camp.  Ogden  would 
not  hasten  the  poor  fellow's  death  by  marching  and 
the  brigade  waited  till  the  horses  were  out  of  grass. 
Ogden  sent  spies  forward  to  reconnoiter  good  camp- 
ing ground,  Sent  the  tenting  kit  on,  and  had  the  sick 
man  moved  on  a  stretcher.  There  was  no  blare  of 
trumpets  after  the  manner  of  civilized  heroism,  but 
on  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  December,  two  hunters 
came  forward  to  Ogden  and  quietly  volunteered  to 
remain  in  the  desert  with  the  sick  man.  The  man, 
himself,  had  been  begging  Ogden  to  throw  him  in  the 
river  or  shoot  him,  as  it  was  quite  apparent  he  could 
not  recover.  ''I  gave  my  consent  for  the  two  men 
to  remain,"  relates  Ogden,  not  even  mentioning  the 
names  of  the  heroes.  "There  is  no  other  alternative 
for  us.  It  is  impossible  for  the  whole  party  to  re- 
main and  feed  on  horse  flesh  for  four  months.  One 
hundred  horses  would  not  suffice,  and  what  would 
become  of  us  afterward?" 

Turning  back  up  Unknown  River,  Ogden  wintered 
on  Salt  Lake;   "a,  gloomy,  barren  region,  except  for 

298 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

wolves,  no  other  animals  seen,"  he  relates  of  the 
backward  march.  "Here  we  are  at  the  end  of  Great 
Salt  Lake,  having  this  season  explored  half  the  north 
side  of  it,  and  we  can  safely  assert,  as  the  Americans 
have  of  the  south  side,  that  it  is  a  country  destitute 
of  everything."  On  the  ist  of  January,  came  the 
trappers  who  had  nursed  their  comrade  to  the  time 
of  his  death. 

"  Of  all  the  men  who  first  came  to  the  Snake  coun- 
try," writes  Ogden, "  there  remains  now  only  one  alive. 
All  the  others  have  been  killed  except  two,  who  died 
a  natural  death.  It  is  incredible  the  number  who 
have  perished  in  this  country."  When  spring  came, 
Ogden  again  set  out  for  Unknown  or  Humboldt 
River,  following  it  westward  where  it  disappears  into 
alkali  sinks.  Two  thousand '  beaver  in  all  were 
taken  from  the  river.  "Country  level  far  as  eye 
can  see.  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  where  this  river 
discharges.  We  start  at  dawn  to  escape  the  heat. 
The  journey  is  over  beds  of  sand.  The  horses  sink 
leg  deep.  The  country  is  level,  though  hills  can  be 
seen  southwest.  The  Indians  are  not  so  numerous 
as  last  fall,  but  from  the  number  of  fires  seen  in  the 
mountains,  I  know  they  are  watching  us  and  warn- 
ing their  tribes.  Nowhere  have  I  found  beaver  so 
abundant.  The  total  number  of  American  trap- 
pers in  this  region  is  eighty.    My  trappers  average 

299 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

one  hundred  and  twenty-five  a  man  for  the  season 
and  are  greatly  pleased.  The  number  of  pelicans 
seems  to  indicate  a  lake.  If  it  is  salt,  there  is  an 
end  to  our  beaver." 

It  was  not  the  desert  but  the  Indians  that  finally 
drove  Ogden  back.  He  had  advanced  almost  to  the 
Shasta  in  California  when  a  tribe  of  Indians  from 
Pit  River  began  mauling  his  trappers,  though  Ogden 
had  taken  the  precaution  of  sending  them  out  only  in 
twos.  It  was  the  28th  of  May.  The  brigade  had 
turned  northeast  to  strike  for  some  branch  of  the 
Columbia,  to  pass  from  what  is  now  known  as  Ne- 
vada to  Oregon,  when  "a.  man  who  had  gone  to 
explore  the  lake  (where  the  river  disappears)  dashed 
in  breathless  with  word  of  'Indians.'  He  had  a 
narrow  escape.  Only  the  fleetness  of  his  horse 
saved  him.  When  rounding  a  point  within  sight 
of  the  lake,  twenty  men  on  horseback  gave  the  war 
cry.  He  fled.  An  Indian  would  have  overtaken 
him,  but  the  trapper  discharged  his  gun  in  the  fel- 
low's face.  He  says  the  hills  are  covered  with  In- 
dians. I  gave  orders  to  secure  our  horses,  and  for 
ten  men  to  advance  and  spy  on  what  the  Indians 
were  doing,  but  not  to  risk  a  battle,  as  we  were  too 
weak.  They  reported  more  than  two  hundred  war- 
riors marching  on  us.  On  they  galloped.  Having 
signaled  a  spot  for  them  to  halt  five  hundred  yards 

300 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 

from  our  camp,  I  went  out,  met  them,  desired  them 
to  be  seated."  One  wonders  what  would  have  hap- 
pened at  this  point  if  instead  of  the  doughty  little 
man  with  the  squeaky  voice  and  podgy  body  and 
spirit  of  a  lion,  there  had  been  a  coward  at  the  head 
of  the  Oregon  brigade.  What  if  the  leader-had  lost 
his  head  and  fled  in  panic,  or  fired? 

"This  order,"  writes  Ogden,  "was  obeyed.  They 
sat  down.  From  their  dress  and  drums,  I  knew  it 
was  a  war  party.  If  they  had  not  been  discovered, 
they  had  intended  to  attack  us.  Weak  as  we  were — 
only  twelve  guns  in  camp — they  would  have  been 
successful.  They  gave  me  the  following  information 
through  a  Snake  interpreter:  this  river  discharges  in 
a  lake,  that  has  no  outlet.  In  eight  days'  march  is 
a  large  river  but  no  beaver"  (the  Sacramento,  or 
Rogue  River  named  after  these  Indians).  "There 
is  another  river  (Pit  River).  We  saw  rifles,  am- 
munition and  arms  among  them.  This  must  be 
the  plunder  of  the  sixteen  Americans  under  Jedediah 
Smith,  who  were  murdered  here  in  the  fall"  (Smith 
had  reached  Fort  Vancouver  naked,  and  Doctor  Mc- 
Loughlin  had  sent  Tom  McKay  out  to  punish  these 
Indians).  "They  wanted  to  enter  my  camp.  I  re- 
fused. A  more  daring  set  of  rascals  I  have  never 
seen.  The  night  was  dark  and  stormy.  The  hostile 
fires  burned  all  night.    As  I  do  not  wish  to  infringe 

301 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

on  the  territory  of  Mr.  McLeod's  Umpqua  brigade, 
I  gave  orders  to  raise  camp  and  return.  McLeod's 
territory  is  on  the  waters  emptying  in  the  Pacific. 
If  Mr.  McLeod  had  reached  Bona  Venture,  he  must 
have  passed  this  stream.  I  told  the  Indians  in 
three  months,  they  would  see  us  again,  and  we  steered 
for  Sylvaille's  River.  Passed  Paul's  grave  where 
he  must  sleep  till  the  last  great  trumpet  sounds." 
In  July,  the  brigade  reached  Fort  Vancouver  by  way 
of  John  Day's  River.  In  four  years,  the  South 
Brigades  had  explored  Oregon,  Idaho,  the  north  of 
California,  Nevada  and  Utah  as  well  as  the  comer  of 
Wyoming — a  fairly  good  record  for  brave  men,  who 
made  no  pretenses  and  thought  no  greatness  of  daily 
deeds.  The  next  few  years,  other  men  led  the 
Oregon  brigade  South.  Ogden  was  sent  North  to 
open  up  that  Russian  strip  of  coast  leading  to  the 
interior  of  British  Columbia.  Henceforth,  he  led 
the  canoe  brigade  to  the  famous  Caribou  and  Cassiar 
regions,  but  he  came  back  to  pass  his  last  days  in 
Oregon,  where  he  died  on  the  banks  of  the  Willa- 
mette about  1854.  Looking  back  over  the  plain 
little  man's  plain  life,  told  in  plain  words  without  a 
thought  of  heroism,  I  cannot  say  I  am  surprised 
that  his  numerous  descendants  and  distinguished  rela- 
tives of  the  East  are  as  proud  of  him  as  other  people 
are  of  the  Mayflower  and  William  the  Conqueror. 

302 


Journals  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden 


Notes  to  Chapter  XXXI. — Ogden 's  daily  journals  as  sent  in 
to  H.  B.  C.  House,  London,  fill  some  six  or  eight  note-books — 
foolscap  size — of  three  hundred  pages  each.  The  contents  of 
this  chapter  are  taken  entirely  m}m  my  copies  of  these  daily 
journals. 

The  Jo.  Paul  and  his  son,  Jo.  Paul,  were  two  of  the  most 
famous  guides  and  bullies  in  the  West  during  the  last  century. 
Of  them  both  the  same  story  is  told:  of  the  father  in  these 
H.  B.  C.  journals,  of  the  son  in  the  Oblate  Missionary  annals. 
In  an  article  on  Pere  Lacombe,  I  told  the  story  as  of  the  son. 
What  was  my  surprise  to  find  the  same  story  turn  up  in  the 
H.  B.  C.  journals,  about  Jo.  Paul,  Sr.  Whether  father  or  son, 
here  is  the  legend  of  their  prowess.  In  the  days  when  the 
French  bullies  used  to  meet  and  fight  the  Orkneymen  on  the 
Saskatchewan,  Jo.  Paul  chanced  to  enter  an  H.  B.  C.  post. 
Knowing  his  fame  for  strength,  the  clerk  thought  to  put  up  a 
trick  on  him.  A  sugar  barrel  was  filled  with  lead.  "There,  Jo. 
Paul."  said  the  clerk,  "lift  that  barrel  of  sugar  on  the  counter 
for  me — will  you?"  Jo.  Paul  gave  it  a  tug.  It  did  not  budge. 
He  gave  it  another  tug.  Not  a  move!  Very  heavy  sugar. 
Jo.  Paul  scented  a  trick.  Mustering  all  his  strength,  he  seized 
the  barrel  and  hurled  it  with  a  slam  right  on  the  counter.  It 
splintered  through  counter  and  floor  to  the  bottom  of  the  cellar. 
"Voila,  mon  enfant,"  says  To.  Paul  with  a  shrug.  Whether 
the  incident  occurred  with  the  Jo.  Paul  whose  body  lies  lonely 
on  the  desert  river,  or  the  Jo.  Paul  who  guided  the  Oblates  up 
the  Saskatchewan,  I  do  not  know.  It  is  just  a  Jo.  Paul  legend 
of  those  early  days. 


303 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

1825-1859 
mcloughltn's  transmontane  empire  continued 

— DOUGLAS'  adventures  IN  NEW  CALEDONIA, 
HOW  HE  PUNISHES  MURDER  AND  IS  HIMSELF 
ALMOST  MURDERED — LITTLE  YALE  OF  THE 
LOWER  ERASER — BLACK's  DEATH  AT  KAMLOOPS 
— ^HOW  TOD  OUTWITS  CONSPIRACY — THE  COM- 
PANY'S OPERATIONS  IN  CALIFORNIA  AND  SAND- 
WICH ISLANDS  AND  ALASKA — WHY  DID  RAE  KILL 
HIMSELF  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO? — THE  SECRET  DI- 
PLOMACY. 

McLOUGHLIN'S  empire  beyond  the  moun- 
tains included  not  only  the  states  now 
known  as  Washington,  Oregon,  Califor- 
nia, Idaho,  Nevada,  Utah,  Colorado,  Wyoming  and 
parts  of  Montana,  but  it  extended  north  of  what 
is  now  the  International  Boundary  through  Okano- 
gan and  Kamloops  and  Cariboo  to  the  limits  of  the 
Yukon.  This  Northern  Empire  was  known  as  New 
Caledonia.  Soon  after  coming  to  Oregon,  Mc- 
Loughlin  realized  that  it  was  a  fearful  waste  of 
energy  and  life  to  transport  the  furs  and  provisions 
of  British  Columbia  all  the  way  across  America  to 

304 


McLaughlin  s  Transmontane  Empire 

and  from  York  on  Hudson  Bay,  or  Lachine  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Both  could  be  conveyed  cheaper 
round  the  world  by  ship  from  London;  so  the  ship 
Cadboro  begins  to  ply  on  yearly  voyage  from  London 
to  the  Columbia,  with  Hawaii  as  half-way  house  in 
the  Pacific,  where  Alex  Simpson,  a  relative  of  Gov- 
ernor Simpson,  acts  as  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
agent  to  buy  supplies  from  the  natives  and  trade  to 
them  in  turn  hides  and  provisions  from  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  farms  of  Oregon.  Later,  comes  the 
little  steamer  Beaver,  the  first  steam  vessel  of  the 
Pacific,  to  run  between  Columbia  and  the  Company 
posts  up  and  down  the  coast. 

Henceforth,  though  Oregon  is  under  Governor 
Simpson's  direction,  it  becomes  a  kingdom  by  itself, 
with  McLoughlin  the  sole  autocrat.  Furs  from  the 
mountain  brigades  of  the  South — of  the  Sacramento 
and  the  Snake  and  Salt  Lake — from  the  mountain 
brigades  of  the  East — fpom  Idaho  and  Montana  and 
Wyoming — from  the  mountain  brigades  of  the 
North — Okanogan  and  Kamloops  and  Fraser  River 
and  New  Caledonia — poured  into  Fort  Vancouver  to 
be  exchanged  forsupplies  and  transshipped  to  London. 

The  Northern  brigades  were  more  picturesque 
even  than  those  of  Snake  River  and  Montana.  The 
regions  traversed  were  wilder,  the  Indians  more 
hostile,  the  scenery  more  varied.     The  Caledonia 

305 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

brigade  set  out  from  Fort  Vancouver  by  boat.  Sixty 
or  seventy  voyageurs  manned  the  large  canoes  that 
stemmed  the  floodtide  of  the  Columbia,  the  pilot's 
canoe  flying  an  H.  B.  C.  flag  from  its  prow,  the  steers- 
man of  each  boat  striking  up  the  tune  of  a  voyageurs' 
song,  the  crew  joining  in  full-throated  chorus,  keep- 
ing time  with  the  rap  of  their  paddles,  and  perhaps 
some  Highlander  droning  his  bagpipes  as  the  canoes 
wound  up  the  rocky  cafions  of  the  great  river.  Did 
Indians  hang  about  the  Dalles  meditating  mischief? 
"Sing!"  commands  the  head  steersman,  and  the 
weird  chant  echoing  among  the  lonely  hills,  rouses 
the  courage  of  the  white  men  and  stems  the  ardor  of 
the  Indians.  Where  the  canoes  thwart  the  boiling 
torrent  of  cross  currents  or  nearing  rapids — to  a  man 
the  voyageurs  brace  themselves,  reach  forward  in 
their  places,  and  plunge  the  flying  paddles  into  a 
sweep  of  waters  that  takes  all  their  strength.  The 
singing  ceases.  Another  singing  is  in  their  ears — 
the  roar  of  the  waters  with  the  noise  of  an  angry  sea 
till  the  traverse  is  thwarted,  or  the  portage  reached 
and  the  distance  measured  off  by  "the  pipes"  a  man 
smokes  as  he  trots  overland  pack  on  back.  "Five 
pipes"  are  the  long  portages. 

At  Okanogan,  canoes  are  exchanged  for  horses — 
two  or  three  hundred  in  the  pack  train  led  by  the 
wise  old  bell-mares,  whose  tinkling  in  the  peopleless 

306 


McLoughlin's  Transmoniane  Empire 

wilderness  echoes  through  the  forests  like  the  silver 
notes  of  a  flute.  Pack  horses  are  like  pack  people — 
with  characters  of  as  many  colors  as  Joseph's  coat. 
There  are  the  rascals,  who  bolt  at  every  fording 
place,  only  to  be  rounded  back  with  a  shoulder  nip 
by  the  old  bell-mares.  There  are  the  lazy  fellows, 
who  go  to  sleep  in  midstream  till  the  splashing  waves 
have  soaked  every  article  in  the  pack.  There  are 
the  laggards,  who  slip  aside  and  hide  till  the  tinkling 
bell  has  faded  in  the  distance.  There  are  the  quar- 
relers, who  are  forever  shouldering  their  nearest 
neighbor  off  the  trail,  and  the  mischief  makers,  who 
try  to  rub  packs  off  against  every  passing  tree,  and 
the  clumsy  footers,  who  lose  a  leg  and  go  down  head 
over  heels  where  the  sand  slithers  or  the  trail  nar- 
rows, and  the  good  old  steady  goers  who  could  find 
their  way  unled  from  Okanogan,  eight  hundred  miles 
north,  to  New  Caledonia — sleek,  well-fed,  fat  fellows 
all  of  them,  when  they  leave  Okanogan,  however 
fagged  and  lamed  they  may  be  when  they  wind  up 
Fraser  River. 

To  the  fore,  near  the  pilot,  rides  the  Chief  Factor 
— black  beaver  hat  which  must  have  caused  the  gen- 
tleman a  deal  of  trouble  riding  under  low  hanging 
branches,  dark  blue  or  black  suit,  white  shirt,  ruffled 
collar  to  his  ears,  frock  coat,  and  when  it  is  cold  a 
great  coat  with  as  many  capes  as  a  Spanish  lady's 

307 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

mantilla,  lined  throughout  with  red  or  tartan  silks. 
When  camp  is  made,  first  duty  is  to  erect  the  Chief 
Factor's  tent  apart  from  the  common  people.  Though 
the  old  Company  no  longer  swash-bucklered  a  con- 
tinent in  gold  braid  with  swords  and  pistols  in  belt, 
its  rulers  still  kept  up  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of 
little  kings.  Near  the  Chief  Factor  often  rode  an 
incoming  missionary.  The  traders  and  clerks  strung 
out  in  a  line  behind,  with  the  married  men  and  their 
families  to  the  rear.  Bugle  or  shout  roused  all  hands 
at  five  in  the  morning,  but  what  with  breakfast  and 
loading  the  pack  horses  and  rounding  all  in  line,  it 
was  usually  ten  o'clock  before  the  long  caravan 
began  to  move  forward.  The  swish  of  leather  leg- 
gings against  saddle  girths,  the  grass  padded  tramp- 
ling of  the  horses,  the  straining  of  the  pack  ropes  as 
the  long  line  filed  zigzag  up  a  steep  mountain  side 
to  a  sky-line  pass — all  produced  a  peculiarly  drowsy 
humming  sound  like  a  multitude  of  bees.  No  stop 
was  made  for  nooning.  With  hunters  alert  for  a 
chance  shot  to  supply  the  supper  table,  with  other 
riders  nodding  half  asleep,  the  brigade  wound  north 
and  north,  through  the  mossed  forests,  now  among 
the  rolling  hills,  with  here  and  there  a  snowy  peak 
looming  opal  above  the  far  clouds;  now  in  the  val- 
leys where  the  river  flowed  with  a  hush  and  the  sun- 
light came  only  in  shafts;   now  on  the  sky-line  of  a 

308 


McLoiKjhlins  Tran.smontane  Empire 

pass  where  forests  and  hills  and  valleys  rolled  a  sun- 
bathed, misty  panorama  below;  now  in  shadowy 
canons  where  the  only  sign  of  life  was  the  eagle 
circling  overhead! 

Kamloops  was  the  great  half-way  house  for  the 
north-bound  brigades.  Here,  worn  horses  were 
exchanged  for  fresh  mounts.  Half  the  far-traveled 
traders  dropped  off  to  stay  in  this  district.  The  rest 
for  a  week  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  sleep  in  a  bed,  and 
limbs  uncramped  from  saddle  stiffness.  The  fort 
was  palisade^  as  usual  and  was  the  trading  post  for 
the  Shushwaps  and  Lower  Fraser  River  Indians. 
It  had  been  the  headquarters  of  David  Thompson, 
the  mountain  explorer  long  ago,  and  had  been  named 
after  him;  but  on  a  change  of  the  site  was  called 
after  the  name  of  the  Indian  lake.  The  mountains, 
which  have  seemed  to  crush  in  on  the  wayfarers  like 
walls,  widen  out  at  Kamloops  to  upland  prairies  and 
rolling  meadows  flanked  by  forested  hills.  To  the 
wearied  hunters  of  the  north-bound  brigades,  it  was 
like  a  garden  in  a  desert,  an  oasis  of  life  in  a  wilder- 
ness of  mountain  wilds.  Saddles  were  hung  on  the 
wooden  pegs  stuck  in  the  clay  of  the  log  walls  and 
horses  turned  out  to  pasture  in  grass  knee-deep. 

Round  Kamloops  cling  a  thousand  legends  of  that 
border  region  in  human  progress  between  savagery 

309 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  civilization.  Indeed,  the  legends  of  Kamloops 
might  be  pages  taken  from  the  border  tales  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  With  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft 
of  San  Francisco  rests  the  credit  of  rescuing  these 
legends  from  oblivion.  At  Kamloops  were  stationed 
many  of  the  famous  old  worthies  of  the  Northwest 
Company.  First  was  David  Thompson.  Then 
came  Alexander  Ross  of  Okanogan,  later  of  Red 
River.  Soon  after  the  union  of  the  two  great  com- 
panies, there  came  to  Kamloops  as  chief  factor  that 
Samuel  Black,  who  had  been  such  a  redoubtable 
rival  to  Colin  Robertson  in  Athabasca.  So  high  did 
Black  stand  in  the  esteem  of  his  old  comrades  in 
adventure,  that  when  the  union  took  place  he  had  been 
presented  with  a  ring  on  which  were  engraved  the 
words — "To  the  most  worthy  of  the  worthy  North- 
Westers."  With  one  of  the  brigades  came  David 
Douglas,  the  famous  botanist,  to  Kamloops.  The 
two  Scotchmen,  thrown  together  alone  in  the  wilder- 
ness, became  friends  at  once;  but  one  night  over 
their  wine  the  discussion  grew  hot.  Douglas,  the 
visitor,  bluntly  blurted  out  that  in  his  opinion  "there 
was  not  an  ofBcer  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
with  a  soul  above  a  beaver  skin."  Like  a  flash. 
Chief  Factor  Black  sprang  to  his  feet,  as  keen 
to  defend  the  Company  as  he  had  formerly  been  to 
revile  it.    He  challenged  the  botanist  on  the  spot  to 

310 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

a  duel;  but  it  was  already  dark,  and  the  fight  had 
to  be  postponed  till  morning.  Scarcely  had  day- 
dawn  come  over  the  hills  when  Black  tapped  on  the 
parchment  window  of  his  guest's  chamber — "  Meester 
Dooglas!    Meester  Dooglas!    A'  ye  ready?" 

But  a  night's  sleep  had  cooled  the  botanist's  ardor. 
He  excused  himself  from  the  contest,  and  as  daylight 
cleared  the  fumes  of  their  wine  away,  the  two  Scotch- 
men, no  doubt,  laughed  heartily  over  their  foolish- 
ness. 

The  Shushwaps  were  warlike  and  treacherous 
and  changeable  as  wind.  Living  alone  among  them, 
it  may  be  guessed  that  the  white  trader  needed  the 
proverbial  wisdom  of  the  serpent.  Chief  of  the 
Shushwaps  in  1841,  was  that  Tranquille,  after  whom 
the  river  is  named.  Tranquille  and  Black  had  had 
words  over  a  gun,  which  another  Indian  had  left 
at  the  stores;  but  the  chief  had  gone  home  with  good 
humor  restored.    Almost  at  once  he  fell  ill. 

"An  enemy  hath  done  this!  It  is  the  evil  eye!'* 
muttered  his  wife. 

"No,"  answered  the  chief,  "my  only  sorrow  is  that 
before  I  die  I  cannot  take  by  the  hand  my  best  friend, 
Mr.  Black,  and  ask  forgiveness  for  any  hasty  words." 

"Subtle  is  the  evil  medicine  of  the  white  men,'* 
answered  his  wife. 

"Peace,  fool!"  Then  to  the  Indians  in  his  tent: 
311 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

*'Pay  no  heed  to  her  words.  Mr.  Black's  heart  is 
good.  Ask  him  to  have  me  buried  after  the  white 
man's  fashion." 

After  his  death  the  chief's  wishes  were  fulfilled, 
and  Mr.  Black  sent  across  a  board  coffin  for  the 
body. 

But  in  the  dead  chief's  lodge  lived  a  nephew  to 
whom  the  disconsolate  widow  made  moan. 

"Ah,  great  chief,  must  thy  spirit  go  to  the  happy 
hunting  grounds  alone,  while  he  who  sent  thee  thither 
bathes  in  the  blessed  sunlight?  Ah,  that  there  is 
none  to  avenge  thee !  Who  shall  now  be  bur  chief? 
Our  young  men  are  cowards!" 

"Enraged  beyond  endurance,"  relates  Bancroft, 
"the  youth  sprang  to  his  feet  and  gave  the  old  woman 
a  smart  slap  on  the  cheek. 

"'Very  brave  to  strike  an  old  woman,'  she  taunted; 
*but  to  avenge  an  uncle's  death  is  a  different 
matter. ' 

"Burning  with  sorrow,  the  boy  arose,  threw  off 
his  clothing,  blackened  his  face,  seized  his  gun  and 
hurried  to  Kamloops.  There  he  received  every 
kindness.  Though  warned  by  the  interpreter,  who 
feared  that  the  blackened  face  and  scanty  clothing 
on  a  cold  February  day  indicated  mischief,  Mr. 
Black  directed  the  boy  to  the  fire  in  the  Indian  hall 
and   sent  him   food   and  pipe   and  tobacco.     The 

312 


McLoucjhlin's  Transinontane  Empire 

nephew  smoked  in  moody  silence.  Toward  evening, 
as  Black  was  passing  through  the  room,  the  young 
savage  raised  his  gun  and  fired.  The  chief  trader 
staggered  into  the  next  room  and  fell  dead  before  his 
wife  and  children.  The  murderer  escaped.  The 
news  spread.  From  Fort  Vancouver,  McLoughlin 
sent  men  to  hunt  to  the  death  the  murderer,  ordering 
John  Tod  to  take  charge  of  Kamloops.  All  traffic 
at  the  fort  must  be  stopped  until  the  murderer  should 
be  delivered.  Calling  the  Shushwaps,  Mr.  Tod 
informed  them  not  a  hair  of  their  heads  should  be 
hurt;  but  the  guilty  person  must  be  found. 

"Then  arose  Nicola,  chief  of  the  Okanogans. 
*You  ask  for  powder  and  ball,'  he  declared,  'and 
the  whites  refuse  you  with  a  scowl.  Why  do 
the  white  men  let  your  children  starve!  Look 
there!' — pointing  to  Black's  grave — 'Your  friend 
lies  dead!  Are  the  Shushwaps  such  cowards  to 
shoot  their  benefactor  in  the  back?  Alas,  yes;  you 
have  killed  your  father!  You  must  not  rest  till 
you  have  brought  to  justice  his  murderer.'  Action 
quickly  followed.  The  murderer  lay  hidden  in  the 
mountains  of  Cariboo.  A  few  picked  men  started 
in  pursuit.  They  found  the  boy.  Placing  heavy 
irons  on  him,  they  threw  him  across  a  horse  and 
started  for  Kamloops.  They  were  obliged  to  cross 
the  river  in  a  canoe.    In  midstream,  with  a  sudden 

313 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

jerk,  the  prisoner  capsized  the  boat.  But  on  the 
opposite  bank  was  old  Nicola  with  a  band  of  war- 
riors; The  boy  knew  his  hour  had  come.  As  he 
floated  down  the  stream,  he  raised  his  death  song, 
which  was  hushed  by  the  crack  of  rifles,  and  the  life- 
less body  sank  beneath  the  crimson  waters." 

This  legend  Bancroft  obtained  from  Tod,  who 
was  on  the  spot  at  the  time,  and  from  McKinlay  of 
Walla  Walla,  who  had  received  the  story  first  hand. 

Tod  took  up  the  reins  of  authority  at  Kamloops. 
Tod  moves  the  fort  to  a  better  site,  has  seven  build- 
ings erected  inside  the  palisades,  and  two  bastions 
placed  at  opposite  angles  to  protect  the  wafls.  Then 
he  sends  his  hunters  afield  and  remains  in  the  fort 
with  no  companion  save  his  wife  and  three  children. 
Four  years  passed  tranquilly  and  Chief  Lolo  rose  to 
be  the  ascendant  leader  of  the  Shushwaps.  For  the 
story  of  Tod's  rule  at  Kamloops,  the  world  is  again 
indebted  to  Bancroft,  who  obtained  the  facts  from 
Tod,  himself.  In  the  band  of  three  hundred  brigade 
horses  roaming  outside  the  palisades  was  a  beautiful 
cayuse  pony,  which  Lolo,  the  chief,  coveted.  "It 
was  the  custom,"  says  Bancroft,  "to  send  a  party 
from  Kamloops  to  fish  on  the  Fraser.  This  year 
(1846)  Lolo  was  to  lead  the  party.  The  second  night 
after  the  departure,  just  as  the  chief  trader  was  re- 
tiring, a  knock  was  heard  at  the  door.     Beside  him- 

314 


McLaughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

self,  his  family  and  a  Half-breed  boy,  there  was  not  a 
soul  about  the  place.  The  fort  gates  were  not  even 
fastened. 

"'Come  in,'  exclaimed  Tod., 

"Slowly  the  door  opens  until  the  black  eyes  of 
Lolo  were  seen  glistening.  Though  fearful  that 
some  misfortune  had  happened  to  the  party,  Tod 
was  Indian  enough  never  to  manifest  surprise.  The 
Shushwap  pushed  open  the  door  and  slowly  entered. 

"'Your  family  will  be  glad  to  see  you,'  Tod  re- 
marked, wondering  what  had  happened. 

" '  The  sorrel  horse,'  began  the  chief.  *  I  want  that 
horse,  Mr.  Tod.' 

"'The  river  has  risen,'  observed  Tod. 

"'For  twenty  years  I  have  followed  the  fortunes 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  .  .  .  and  never 
before  have  I  been  denied  a  request.' 

"'Fill  your  pipe,'  said  Tod. 

"'Alas!  My  wives  and  little  ones!  Though  I  am 
old  and  not  afraid  to  die,  they  are  young  and  help- 
less.    .     .    .     ' 

"'What  the  devil  is  the  matter?'  now  blurted  out 
Tod.  'Who  talks  of  dying?  Where  are  the  men? 
Why  have  you  returned?    Speak ! ' 

"Briefly,  Lolo  declared  that  the  Shushwaps  had 
formed  a  conspiracy  to  attack  the  Kamloops  brigade. 

" '  Where  are  the  men  and  horses? ' 
315 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

"'I  hid  them  as  well  as  I  could  off  the  trail,  telling 
them  I  was  going  to  hunt  a  better  camping  ground. 
I  said  nothing  about  the  conspiracy,  knowing  the 
attack  would  not  be  made  till  we  reached  the  river. 
Time  was  when  I  would  not  have  turned  back  for 
such  a  threat,  but  my  services  are  no  longer  valued.' 

"'Well,  go  to  your  family,  and  let  me  think  about 

itr 

"Was  it  true,  or  a  trick  to  get  the  horse?  Tod  was 
puzzled.  While  deep  in  thought  as  to  what  was  best 
to  do,  Lolo's  head  thrust  in  again. 

"'Will  you  not  let  me  have  that  horse,  Mr.  Tod?' 

"'No — damn  you!  Go  home!  If  you  say  horse 
to  me  again,  I'll  break  ever)^  bone  in  your  body.' 

"Trick  or  no  trick.  Tod  must  go  to  the  waiting 
brigade.  Calling  the  Half-breed  boy,  he  ordered  him 
to  saddle  two  of  the  fleetest  horses.  He  explained 
the  situation  to  his  wife.  Then  he  wrote  a  general 
statement  for  headquarters,  in  case  he  should  never 
return.  While  Lolo  was  still  asleep,  the  chief  trader 
and  his  boy  were  on  the  trail  for  Fraser  River,  gallop- 
ing as  fast  as  their  horses  could  carry  them.  He 
reached  his  men  by  noon.  They  were  surprised  to 
see  him ;  but  he  merely  gave  orders  to  move  forward 
next  morning.  By  sunrise,  the  party  was  on  the 
trail.  In  advance,  rode  Tod  alone.  He  had  told 
his  men  to  keep  three  hundred  yards  behind  him,  to 

316 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

march  when  he  marched,  stop  when  he  stopped.  By 
9  o'clock  they  approached  a  small  open  plain  enclosed 
in  thick  brushwood.  Tod  motioned  his  men  to  halt 
while  he  rode  forward  apparently  unconcerned  but 
with  a  glance  to  every  rock  and  shrub.  His  eye 
caught  unmistakable  signs  ...  a  large  band 
of  armed  and  painted  savages  were  moving  about 
excitedly.  Lolo  was  right,  but  what  was  Tod  to  do? 
He  had  not  ten  men,  and  here  were  three  hundred 
arrayed  against  him,  powerful  Shushwaps,  who  could 
handle  the  rifle  as  well  as  any  white  man.  .  .  . 
The  men  to  the  rear  .  .  .  had  by  this  time  seen 
the  savages.  .  .  .  They  knew  now  why  the 
leader  had  so  unexpectedly  appeared.  .  .  .  Tod 
motioned  one  of  his  party  ...  a  George  Simp- 
son    ...     to  come. 

"'George!  Fall  back  with  the  horses!  If  things 
go  wrong,  make  your  way  to  the  fort!    Go!' 

"The  brave  fellow  hesitated  to  leave  his  leader 
alone. 

"'Damn  you!    Go!'  shouted  Tod.     .    .    . 

"The  enemy  stand  watching  intently  the  fur 
trader's  every  move.  .  .  .  Turning  full-front  on 
the  glowering  savages,  Tod  puts  spurs  to  his  horse. 
.  .  .  As  he  rushes,  they  raise  their  guns  .  .  . 
the  horseman  does  not  flinch,  but  quickly  drawing 
sword  and  pistol,  he  holds  them  aloft  in  one  hand 

V7 


'  The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

.  .  .  then  hurls  them  all  aheap  on  the  plain 
.  .  .  and  he  charges  into  the  very  midst  of  the 
savages.  Why  did  they  not  kill  him?  .  .  .  Cur- 
iosity. .  .  .  They  wished  to  see  what  he  would 
do  next.  .  .  .  There  sat  the  smiling  Scotchman 
amid  the  thickest  of  them. 

"'What  is  all  this?'  demanded  the  chief  trader. 

"'We  want  to  see  Lolo.    Why  came  you  here?' 

"'Then  you  have  not  heard  the  news.  .  .  . 
The  smallpox  is  upon  us !    .     .     .     ' 

"Well  they  knew  what  the  smallpox  was  and  that 
it  raged  on  the  Lower  Columbia. 

"'That  is  why  I  come,'  continued  Tod.  'I  come 
to  save  you.  You  are  my  friends.  You  bring  me 
furs;  but  you  must  not  come  to  Kamloops,  else  you 
will  die ;  see,  I  have  brought  the  medicine  to  stop  it ! '" 

Ten  minutes  later,  Tod  is  sitting  on  the  stump  of  a 
fallen  tree,  vaccinating  the  Shushwaps,  and  Kam- 
loops' traditions  say,  indeed,  Tod,  himself,  ac- 
knowledged to  Bancroft,  that  when  the  Indians, 
who  were  leaders  of  the  conspiracy,  held  up  their 
arms  to  be  vaccinated,  he  took  good  care  to  give  them 
a  gash  that  would  disable  their  arms  for  some  weeks. 
A  Scotchman  abhors  a  lie;  at  least,  a  straightforward 
lie  that  gives  no  quarter  to  conscience,  but  somehow 
Tod  conveyed  to  those  Shushwap  warriors  the  as- 
tounding warning,  that  if  they  lowered  or  used  their 

318 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

vaccinated  arms  for  some  time,  it  would  be  absolutely 
and  swiftly  fatal.  So  Tod  saved  Kamloops,  and 
volumes  might  be  written  of  the  legends  lingering 
about  the  old  fur  post.  Other  chief  traders  suc- 
ceeded Tod  at  Kamloops.  McLean,  son  of  the 
colonist  murdered  at  Seven  Oaks,  Red  River,  was  at 
Kamloops  in  the  early  fifties  when  all  the  world  was 
agog  with  excitement  over  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
the  Rockies.  An  Indian  was  drinking  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thompson  when  he  saw  what  he  thought 
was  a  shining  pebble.  The  pebble  was  carried  to 
McLean  of  Kamloops.  It  was  a  gold  nugget.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  fur  traders'  reign  in 
the  mountains. 

From  Kamloops,  the  New  Caledonia  brigade 
struck  northwesterly  on  a  trail  to  the  Fraser  and 
along  the  banks  of  that  torrential  river  up  as  far  as 
Alexandria,  where  MacKenzie  had  headed  his  canoes 
back  upstream  on  his  trip  to  the  Pacific.  Alexan- 
dria was  now  a  fur  post.  Here  horses  were  left  to 
pasture  for  the  year,  and  the  brigade  ascended  the 
Fraser  in  canoes  to  Fort  George  and  Fort  St.  James 
on  Stuart  Lake,  and  Fort  McLeod  on  McLeod 
Lake,  and  Fraser  Fort,  and  those  other  northern 
posts  variously  known  as  Babinc  and  Connolly, 
where  the  Company  had  erected  permanent  quarters. 

319 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

If  Kamloops  resembled  some  Spanish  redoubt 
perched  on  some  high  sierra  amid  parched,  rolHng 
hills,  the  Stuart  Lake  region — New  Caledonia  proper 
— ^was  like  a  replica  of  the  Trossachs  on  some  colossal 
scale.  Lakes  with  the  sheen  of  emerald  lay  hidden 
in  the  primeval  forests  reflecting  as  in  a  mirror  woods, 
cloud-line,  treeless  peaks  and  the  domed  opal  of  the 
upper  snows,  where  the  white  drifts  Ire  forever  and 
the  precipices  are  criss-crossed  by  the  scar  of  the 
avalanche  as  by  some  fantastic  architect.  In  area, 
the  region  is  the  size  of  modern  Germany.  It  was 
here  Simon  Fraser,  the  discoverer,  had  planted  the 
flag  of  the  fur  trader  and  established  posts  in  the  land 
that  reminded  him  of  Scottish  Highlands. 

Fort  St.  James,  being  the  center  of  the  most  popu- 
lous Indian  tribe — the  Carriers — has  become  the  capi- 
tal of  this  mountain  kingdom,  and  many  old  worthies 
of  the  Northwest  days  have  played  the  king  here. 
Ordinarily,  the  fort  drowses  in  security  like  a  droning 
bee  on  a  summer  day,  but  in  times  of  Indian  treaty, 
or  on  such  occasions  of  pomp  as  Sir  George  Simpson, 
the  governor,  coming  on  a  visit  of  inspection.  Fort 
St.  James  puts  on  an  air  of  military  pomp,  the  sentinel 
going  on  duty  at  9  p.  m.  and  with  monotonous  tread 
calling  out,  "All's  Well"  every  half  hour  till  5:30 
A.  M.,  when  a  rifle  is  fired  to  signal  all  hands  up. 
Six  A.  M.  work  begins.     Eight  o'clock  is  breakfast. 

320 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

Nine,  the  traders  turn  to  work  again.  At  12:00,  a 
bell  signals  nooning;  at  1:00,  back  to  work;  at  6:00 
p.  M.,  duty  done  for  the  day. 

Harmon,  who  came  West  with  Henry's  brigade 
of  Pembina  back  in  181 1,  remains  almost  to  the  time 
of  the  Company's  union,  w^hen  he  retires  to  Vermont. 
John  Stuart,  who  voyaged  with  Fraser,  comes  after 
Harmon;  but  he  retires  to  spend  his  last  days  in 
Scotland.  He  is  succeeded  by  William  Connolly, 
an  Irishman  of  Babine  Lake,  a  northern  post.  East 
at  McLeod  Lake  is  Tod,  who  is  to  win  fame  at 
Kamloops.  South  is  Paul  Fraser,  son  of  the  ex- 
plorer, at  the  Fraser  Lake  post.  Down  at  Fort 
George  on  the  Fraser,  is  little  James  Murray  Yale, 
who  served  as  a  boy  under  John  Clarke  in  Atha- 
basca, when,  on  one  of  the  terrific  marches  of  the 
famine  stricken  Hudson's  Bays,  little  Yale's  short 
legs  could  keep  the  pace  no  longer  and  the  boy  fell 
exhausted  on  the  snow  to  die.  "Come  on!  Come 
on  garcon,^'  called  a  big  voyageur,  whose  admiration 
had  been  won  by  Yale's  pluck.  "Go  on,"  retorted 
Yale.  "I've  reached  the  Great  Divide,"  and  the 
big  voyageur  turned  to  see  that  the  brave  boy  pre- 
ferred to  die  rather  than  impede  the  others.  The 
rough  fellow's  heart  smote  within  him.  He  burst  in 
tears,  tore  back  mumbling  out  a  cannonade  of  oaths, 
bent  his  big  back,  hoisted  Yale  on  his  shoulders  like 

3^1 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

a  papoose  in  a  squaw's  mossbag,  and  rejoined  the 
marchers,  muttering  a  patois  of  pidgin  English  and 
jargon  French — "Sacre!  Too  much  brave,  he  httle 
man!  Misere!  Toiinere!  Come  on!"  Here,  then 
is  Yale,  grown  man,  though  still  small,  now  serving 
the  united  companies  at  Fort  George  and  later  to  be 
shifted  down  the  Fraser  to  Fort  Langley  at  tidewater, 
and  Yale  Fort,  higher  up,  and  Hope  at  the  mountain 
gorge.  To  keep  track  of  these  little  kings  ruling  in 
the  wilderness,  shifted  from  post  to  post,  would  neces- 
sitate writing  chapters  to  vie  with  Hebrew  genealogies. 
The  careers  of  only  the  most  prominent  may  be  fol- 
lowed, and  of  all  the  traders  serving  under  Chief 
Factor  Connolly  of  Stuart  Lake,  in  1822-23,  the 
most  important  was  James  Douglas,  a  youth  of  some 
twenty  years. 

Born  in  Demerara,  on  August  11,  1803,  of  a  beau- 
tiful Creole  mother  and  father,  who  was  the  scion 
of  the  noble  Black  Douglas  of  Scottish  story — James 
Douglas  had  been  carefully  educated  in  Scotland 
and  joined  the  fur  companies  a  soldier  of  fortune 
before  he  was  twenty-one.  Douglas  inherited  the 
beauty  of  his  mother,  the  iron  strength  and  iron  will 
and  never-bending  reserve  of  his  father's  race.  At 
first,  he  had  been  disgusted  with  the  ruffianism  of  the 
two  great  companies,  and  had  intended  to  retire  from 
the  country;   but  McLoughlin  of  Fort  William  had 

322 


McLougkiin^s  Transmontane  Empire 

taken  a  fancy  to  the  Scotch  youth  and  persuaded 
Douglas  to  come  West  after  the  union.  McLoughHn 
advised  as  a  friend  that  Douglas  serve  in  as  many 
posts  as  possible  and  climb  from  the  bottom  rung 
of  the  ladder  so  that  every  department  of  the  trade 
would  be  mastered  first-hand.  Hence,  Douglas  was 
assigned  as  clerk  under  Connolly  of  Stuart  Lake  at 
a  salary  of  ;i^6o  a  year.  He,  who  was  to  become 
titled  governor  of  British  Columbia,  had  now  to  keep 
the  books,  trade  with  the  Indians,  fish  through  ice 
with  bare  hands,  haul  sleighloads  of  furs  through 
snowdrifts  waist  deep — in  a  word,  do  whatever  his 
hand  found  to  do,  and  do  it  with  his  might. 

Chief  Factor  Connolly  had  a  beautiful  daughter 
of  native  blood,  as  Douglas'  mother  had  been  of 
Creole  blood.  The  girl  was  fifteen.  Douglas  was 
twenty-one.  The  inevitable  happened.  Nellie  Con- 
nolly and  Douglas  fell  in  love  and  were  married  ac- 
cording to  the  rites  of  the  Company — which  simply 
consisted  of  open  avowal  and  entry  on  the  books — 
a  pair  of  children  dreaming  love's  dream  in  surround- 
ings that  would  have  made  fit  setting  for  the  honey- 
moon of  monarchs.  Later,  when  there  came  a 
Reverend  Mr.  Beaver  to  the  Columbia  in  1837-38, 
breathing  fire  and  maledictions  on  unions  which  had 
not  been  celebrated  by  his  own  Episcopal  Church, 
Douglas  was  re-married  to  Nellie  Connolly.    In  fact, 

323 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Douglas  and  McLoughlin  who  had  both  married 
their  wives  according  to  the  law  of  the  Company — 
and  there  was  no  other  law — had  an  uncomfortable 
time  of  it  as  missionaries  came  to  the  Columbia. 
The  Reverend  Beaver  openly  preached  against  Mc- 
Loughlin living  in  a  state  of  sin.  McLoughlin, 
being  good  Catholic,  kicked  the  reverend  gentleman 
soundly  for  his  impudence;  but  to  still  the  wagging 
of  tongues  had  himself  married  by  the  church  to 
McKay's  widow.  Even  that  did  not  suffice.  Catho- 
lics did  not  recognize  ceremonies  performed  by 
Protestants.  Protestants  did  not  recognize  unions 
cemented  by  Catholics.  It  is  said  that  the  saintly 
old  Father  of  Oregon  actually  had  himself  married 
two  or  three  times  to  satisfy  his  critics;  and  at  this 
distance  of  time  one  may  be  permitted  to  wonder 
which  ceremony  was  wTitten  down  as  holiest  in  the 
courts  of  heaven — the  civil  contract  of  the  Company 
by  which  a  chivalrous  gentleman  took  the  widow  of 
his  friend  under  his  protection,  or  the  later  unions 
lashed  like  a  "diamond"  hitch  by  well  meaning  en- 
thusiasts. 

Meanwhile,  up  at  Stuart  Lake,  was  Douglas 
learning  what  was  untellable  —  the  daily  discipline 
of  strong,  absolutely  self-reliant  living ;  Douglas 
developing  what  McLoughlin  meant  should  be 
developed  when  he  sent  the  young  man   to  such 

324 


McLoiKihlins   Transmontane  Empire 

a  hard  post — iron  in  muscle,  iron  in  nerve,  iron 
in  will. 

The  story  is  told  that  once  at  a  later  era  in  Douglas' 
life  at  Victoria,  a  clerk  dashed  breathless  into  his 
presence  gasping  out  that  a  whole  tribe  of  unruly 
Indians  had  got  possession  of  the  fort  courtyard. 
"Will  we  fire,  sir?  Will  we  man  the  guns?"  asked 
the  distracted  young  gentleman.  Douglas  looked 
the  young  man  over  very  coldly,  then  answered  in 
measured,  deliberate  tones:  "Give  them  some  bread 
and  treacle!  Give  them  some  bread  and  treacle!" 
Sure  enough!  The  regale  pacified  the  discontent, 
and  the  Indians  marched  off  without  so  much  as 
the  firing  of  a  gun.  People  asked  where  Douglas 
had  learned  the  untellable  art  of  governing  unruly 
hordes.  It  was  in  New  Caledonia,  and  the  school 
was  a  hard  one.  Douglas'  first  lesson  nearly  cost 
him  his  life.  This  story  has  been  told  often  and  in 
many  different  versions.  The  first  version  is  that  of 
McLean  of  Kamloops.  All  legends  are  variations 
of  this  story,  but  the  facts  of  the  case  are  best  set 
forth  by  the  missionary  to  the  Carrier  Indians — 
Father  Morice,  who  questioned  all  the  old  traders 
and  Indians  on  the  spot.  Here  is  the  substance  of 
the  story  as  told  to  Morice: 

Jimmie  Yale  went  home  from  Stuart  Lake  to  Fort 
George  on  the  Fraser  one  night  in  1823  to  find  his 

325 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

two  white  workmen  murdered  by  two  Fraser  Lake 
Indians,  mutilated  and  thrown  in  outhouses  for  dogs 
to  eat.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  never  let  a 
murder  pass  unpunished.  One  of  the  murderers 
was  secretly  done  to  death  by  paid  agents  of  the  Com- 
pany, ''who  buried  the  remains,"  relates  Morice, 
"in  a  way  to  suggest  accident  as  the  cause  of  death." 
Five  years  passed.  Surely  the  Company  had  for- 
gotten about  the  crime.  The  other  murderer  ven- 
tured a  visit  to  Stuart  Lake.  Chief  Factor  Connolly 
was  away.  James  Douglas  was  the  only  white  man 
at  Fort  St.  James.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  mur- 
derer's visit,  he  bade  the  Indians  arm  themselves 
with  cudgels  and  follow  him.  The  criminal  had 
hidden  in  terror  under  a  pile  of  skins  in  a  sick  woman's 
lodge.  Douglas  dragged  him  forth  by  the  hair, 
demanding  his  name.  The  fellow  mumbled  out 
some  assumed  cognomen. 

"You  lie,"  answered  Douglas  to  the  stammered 
answer,  firing  point-blank  in  the  fellow's  face;  but 
in  the  struggle,  the  ball  went  wide.  The  Indians 
thereupon  fell  on  the  criminal  and  beat  him  to  death. 

"The  man  he  killed  was  eaten  by  dogs.  By  dogs 
let  him  be  eaten,"  Douglas  pronounced  sentence, 
ordering  the  body  to  be  cast  unburied  outside  the 
palisades.  This  was  enforcing  the  savage  law  of  a 
tooth  for  a  tooth  with  a  vengeance.    The  chief  of  the 

326 


McLaughlin's   Transmontune  Empire 

Carriers  determined  to  give  young  Douglas  the  lesson 
of  his  life.  Punish  murderers?  Yes;  but  not  as  if 
Indians  were  dogs. 

A  few  weeks  afterward,  followed  by  a  great  con- 
course of  warriors  from  Fraser  Lake,  old  Chief  Kwah 
marched  boldly  into  the  Indian  Hall  of  Fort  St. 
James.  Douglas  sprang  to  seize  a  musket  hanging 
on  the  wall.  Fort  hands  rushed  to  trundle  cannon 
into  the  room,  but  the  Indians  snatched  the  big 
guns,  though  brave  little  Nancy  Boucher,  wife  of  the 
interpreter,  managed  to  slam  the  doors  shut  against 
more  intruders  and  Nellie  Connolly  came  from  her 
room  half  dazed  with  sleep  just  in  time  to  grasp  a 
dagger  from  the  hands  of  the  murdered  Indian's 
father.  Chief  Kwah's  nephew  had  a  poniard  at 
Douglas'  heart  and  was  asking  impatiently: 

"Shall  I  strike?  Shall  I  strike?  Say  the  word 
and  I  stab  him!" 

It  was  woman's  wit  saved  the  captive  Douglas. 
Quick  as  flash  glided  Nellie  Connolly  to  the  old 
chief,  knowing  well  the  Indian  custom  of  "potlatch," 
gift-giving,  appeasing  for  bloodshed  with  costly 
presents.  She  offered  old  Kwah  all  he  might  ask 
to  spare  the  life  of  her  husband.  Then  dashing  up- 
stairs, the  two  women  began  throwing  down  tobacco, 
handkerchiefs,  clothing.  The  Indians  scrambled 
for  the  gifts.    Douglas  wrenched  free,  and  Old  Chief 

Z27 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Kwah  bade  his  followers  come  away.  He  had  done 
all  he  meant — taught  Douglas  a  lesson,  though 
those  so-called  lessons  have  a  ghastly  sudden  way 
with  angry  Indians  of  turning  to  tragedy,  as  the 
massacre  at  Red  River  testifies. 

An  event  that  has  gone  down  to  history  at  Fort  St. 
James,  was  the  visit  of  Governor  Simpson,  in  1828. 
Simpson  was  young,  but  what  he  lacked  in  years,  he 
made  up  in  hard  horse-sense  and  pomp  to  impress 
the  Indians.  Music  boxes,  bugles,  drums,  fifes — 
all  were  used  in  Simpson's  pow-wow  of  state  with  the 
Indians.  September  17th,  his  scouts  sighted  Stuart 
Lake.  The  guide  to  the  fore  unfurled  a  British  flag. 
Buglers  and  bagpipes  struck  up  a  lively  march  that 
set  the  echoes  flying  among  the  mountains  and 
brought  the  Carrier  Indians  out  agape.  First,  clad 
in  all  the  regalia  of  beaver  hat,  ruffled  choker,  velvet 
cape  lined  with  red  silk,  leather  leggings  and  gorgeous 
trappings  to  his  saddle — rode  Governor  Simpson. 
Behind  came  his  doctor  and  a  chief  factor  riding 
abreast.  Twenty  men  followed  with  camp  kit,  then 
one  of  the  McGillivrays  to  the  rear.  In  all,  Simpson 
traveled  with  a  retinue  of  sixty.  A  musket  shot 
notified  the  fort  of  the  ruler's  approach.  Fort  St. 
James  roared  back  a  welcome  with  cannon  and 
musketry,  all  hands  standing  solemnly  in  line,  while 
Douglas  advanced  to  meet  his  lord,  Connolly  being 

328 


McLoughlirCs  Transmontane  Empire 

absent  on  the  Fraser.  What  with  a  band  playing 
and  the  cannon  booming,  such  wild  echoes  were 
set  dancing  in  the  mountains  as  almost  frightened 
the  Carrier  Indians  out  of  their  senses.  Was  the 
great  white  lord  coming  to  be  avenged  on  them  for 
the  attack  on  Douglas?  But  the  great  white  lord, 
who  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  clever  little 
gentleman  bent  on  business,  kept  his  band  marching 
up  and  down  the  inner  gallery  of  the  palisades,  chests 
puffed  out,  pipers  skirling,  while  he  as  lord  ascend- 
ant of  the  mighty  mountains  shook  hands  with  the 
Indians  and  treated  them  to  tobacco.  Simpson  passed 
south  to  Vancouver. 

New  Year's  Day,  1829,  the  clerks  of  St.  James 
determined  to  punish  the  Carriers  for  their  raid. 
Bounteous  was  the  regale  of  rum  dealt  out.  When 
the  Carriers  lay  drunk,  out  sallied  the  voyageurs  and 
gave  the  Indians  such  a  pummcling  as  stirred  up 
bad  blood  for  a  year.  Douglas'  life  was  no  longer 
safe  in  Caledonia.  In  1830,  he  left  Fraser  River  to 
join  McLoughlin  in  Oregon.  He  had  come  to  New 
Caledonia,  raw,  impulsive,  violent  in  his  forcefulness 
to  succeed.  He  went  down  to  Oregon,  still  young, 
but  a  drilled  disciplinarian  of  life's  hard  knocks — 
reserved  to  a  fault,  deliberate  to  a  degree,  cautious 
and  tactful  in  a  way  that  must  have  delighted  Mc- 
I-oughlin's  heart.    When  Connolly  left  New  Cale- 

329 


The  Conquest  of  Uie  Great  Northwest 

donia  for  Montreal,  where  he  rose  to  eminence,  there 
came  as  Chief  Factor,  Peter  Skene  Ogden,  fresh 
from  leading  the  southern  brigades. 

McLoughlin  needed  Douglas  in  Oregon.  The 
Company,  that  had  begun  two  centuries  before  with 
one  little  fort  on  a  frozen  sea,  had  not  only  stretched 
its  tentacles  across  the  continent  but  was  reaching 
out  to  Hawaii,  to  Mexico,  to  Alaska.  And  this  gal- 
vanizing energy  resulted  directly  from  the  energy 
of  that  little  man,  George  Simpson.  "If"  is  a  word 
that  opens  the  door  of  lost  opportunities.  //  Sir 
George  Simpson  had  been  seconded  in  his  aims  by  the 
Governing  Board  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company;  and 
ij  those  gentlemen  who  lived  fat  on  their  fur  dividends 
had  mended  their  ignorance  sufficiently  to  know  what 
Sir  George  was  driving  at;  and  ij  the  Company  had 
bought  over  the  bonded  debts  of  Mexico — as  Simpson 
advised — and  traded  the  debts  for  the  grant  of  Cali- 
fornia to  the  English;  and  ij  the  Company  had 
been  less  niggardly  and  paid  down  promptly  the 
$30,000  asked  for  Russia's  holdings  in  California — 
ij  all  these  things,  then,  one  wonders  whether  the 
southern  bounds  of  British  Columbia  to-day  would  be 
the  northern  bounds  of  modern  Mexico.  But  man's 
blunders  a^e  destiny's  plays;  and  the  opportunities 
missed  by  one  nation  the  prizes  seized  by  another. 

330 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

Far  reaching  and  statesmanlike  in  grasp  were  the 
schemes  McLoughhn  had  in  hand. 

Baranoff,  the  famous  old  governor  of  Alaska,  had 
died  just  a  few  years  before  the  union  of  the  two 
English  companies,  and  from  the  time  of  his  death 
the  grip  of  the  Russian  Fur  Company  slackened  on 
Alaska.  Naval  officers  came  out  as  governors. 
Naval  officers  knew  nothing  of  the  tricks  of  the  fur 
trade.  Returns  to  the  St.  Petersburg  company  began 
to  decrease.  Was  Alaska  worth  holding?  That 
was  the  question  Russians  were  asking. 

As  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  pressed  toward  the 
Pacific  from  New  Caledonia,  their  traders  and  trap- 
pers came  in  violent  collision  with  Russians  working 
inland  from  the  coast.  There  ensued  the  usual  orgies 
of  rum  and  secret  raid.  It  became  apparent  that  it 
would  be  cheaper  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  to 
ship  some  of  its  New  Caledonia  furs  by  sea  south  to 
the  Columbia  than  to  send  the  packs  inland  and 
south  by  the  horse  brigades'.  The  Anglo-Russian 
Treaty  of  1825  had  granted  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany free  navigation  of  streams  across  Russian  terri- 
tory to  the  interior  of  northern  British  Columbia. 

Year  by  year,  English  forts  had  been  creeping  up 
the  west  coast  toward  Russian  Alaska.  Fort  Lang- 
ley  had  been  built  on  the  Eraser  by  McMillan  and 
twenty-five  men,  in  1827.    The  party  had  come  from 

331 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

the  Columbia  overland  to  Puget  Sound.  There 
Captain  Simpson  on  The  Cadhoro  met  them  and 
carried  all  some  thirty  miles  up  Fraser  River  to  a 
point  on  the  south  bank.  The  Indians  were  notori- 
ously hostile,  but  McMillan  kept  men  on  guard  day 
and  night,  and  had  his  builders  sleep  in  midstream  on 
board  The  Cadhoro.  By  autumn,  an  oblong  fort 
with  the  regular  palisades,  inner  gallery  for  artillery 
and  corner  bastions,  had  been  completed;  and  the 
men  scattered  afield  to  hunt.  Expresses  were  regu- 
larly sent  overland  to  Fort  Vancouver  and  one  of 
these  led  by  a  MacKenzie  with  four  men,  was  mur- 
dered on  an  island  in  the  straits  in  January,  1828. 
In  October,  comes  Governor  George  Simpson  in 
pompous  estate  with  band  and  outriders  and  retinue 
of  twenty  men.  McMillan  went  down  to  the  Colum- 
bia with  the  governor  and  was  succeeded  by  little 
James  Yale  of  Caledonia,  who  promptly  sought  to 
render  himself  secure  with  the  natives  by  marrying 
an  Indian  wife.  Gradually,  this  post  became  the 
great  fishing  station  of  the  Company  for  the  salmon 
shipped  to  Hawaii. 

Near  Nisqually  River  on  Puget  Sound  sprang  up, 
in  1833,  a  cluster  of  cabins  known  as  Nisqually  Fort, 
the  half-way  house  between  the  Columbia  and  the 
Fraser,  between  Fort  Vancouver  and  Fort  Langley. 

The  same  spring  Captain  Kipling's  Dryad  is  sent 
332 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

North  with  Duncan  Finlayson  and  forty  men  to 
build  an  outpost  yet  farther  north— Fort  McLoughlin 
on  Millbank  Sound.  Work  proceeds  all  summer. 
Finlayson  goes  back  to  the  Columbia,  Manson  tak- 
ing charge.  In  spite  of  every  caution  against  the 
treachery  of  the  notorious  Bella  Coola  Indians,  who 
long  ago  proved  so  hostile  to  Sir  Alexander  Mac- 
Kenzie,  a  trader  by  name  of  Richards  disappears — 
whether  a  deserter  or  captive,  Manson  cannot  tell. 
A  chief  is  seized  as  hostage  till  the  white  man  is  re- 
turned. Sunday,  the  flag  signals  no  trade.  Not  a 
breath  of  wind  stirs  the  water.  Not  a  canoe  is  vis- 
ible, not  an  Indian  to  be  seen.  A  drowsy  sense  of 
security  comes  over  the  fort  sweltering  in  the  summer 
heat.  Toward  night,  the  men  ask  permission  to  go 
outside  the  palisades  for  pails  of  fresh  water.  Ander- 
son does  not  approve;  but  Chief  Trader  Manson 
takes  his  pistol  and  sword,  opens  the  sally  port,  and 
leads  his  men  down  to  a  fresh  water  stream.  In- 
stantly, in  the  twilight,  the  dense  forests  come  to  life. 
There  is  the  Bella  Coola's  war-whoop,  the  crash  of 
ambushed  sharpshooters,  a  spitting  of  bullets  against 
pebbles  and  pails,  a  wild  rush  of  traders  and  Indians 
to  reach  the  gates  first. 

"Bind  your  hostage!  Quick — fire  the  cannon!" 
bellowed  Anderson  sprinting  for  safety. 

The  cannon  shots  drove  back  the  savages  and  the 
333 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

whites  got  safely  inside  the  palisades  with  only  one 
water  carrier  lost.  One  may  guess  there  was  no 
sleep.  Rain  clouds  rolled  up  rendering  the  night 
pitch  dark  with  never  a  sound  but  the  lapping  of  the 
waters,  the  tramp,  tramp  of  the  sentries,  the  shuffle 
of  men  hurriedly  handing  down  all  the  muskets  from 
the  wall  racks,  the  "All's  Well"  of  the  watch  every 
half  hour  as  he  passed  the  entrance  to  the  main  house. 
About  midnight  out  of  the  dark  came  a  terrified  shout. 

"Mr.  Manson!  Mr.  Manson!  Can  you  hear 
me?"     It  was  the  captured  water  carrier. 

"Hello!    Where  are  you?" 

"Tied  in  their  canoe,  and  the  devils  say  they  are 
going  to  kill  me  unless  you  let  the  chief  go!" 

Manson  and  Anderson  hoist  the  hostage  to  the 
gallery  inside  the  palisades  and  bid  him  assure  his 
people  he  is  safe  and  will  be  exchanged  at  daybreak 
for  the  water  carrier.  Daydawn  after  sleepless  night, 
prisoners  are  exchanged;  and  the  rescued  man  re- 
ports that  the  other  missing  trader  had  long  since 
been  stoned  to  death  by  Indian  boys.  Fort  Mc- 
Loughlin  proves  too  dangerous  a  fort  for  the  traders 
to  hold.  It  is  torn  down,  in  1839,  ^^^  moved  across 
to  the  north  end  of  Vancouver  Island,  where  it  is 
re-named  Fort  Rupert  and  flourishes  to  modern 
times. 

Nisqually,  Langley,  McLoughlin,  Rupert — nothing 
334 


McLoughlin's  Transmoiitane  Empire 

daunted,  the  Company  still  pushes  northerly  and 
builds  Port  Simpson.  Then,  in  1834,  it  is  decided 
to  send  Peter  Skene  Ogden  up  on  The  Dryad  to 
cross  the  Russian  frontier  and  build  a  company  post 
on  Stickine  River.  This  is  more  easily  said  than 
done.  It  is  one  thing  to  have  free  access  across 
foreign  territory.  It  is  quite  another  thing  to  use 
that  privilege  to  build  a  fort  on  the  frontier  of  a 
friendly  power.  Baron  Wrangel  is  governor  at  Sitka 
this  year.  The  Dryad  has  barely  poked  her  prow  up 
the  turbulent  current  of  the  Stickine  breasting  toward 
the  Russian  redoubt  of  St.  Dionysius — a  log  fort 
later  known  as  Wrangel — ^when  puff  goes  a  cannon 
shot!  Is  it  a  salute,  or  command  to  stop?  Out 
rows  a  boat  with  a  Russian  officer  presenting  a 
formal  proclamation  forbidding  the  English  com- 
pany from  ascending  the  Stickine. 

"This  is  clear  violation  of  our  treaty,"  thunders 
Ogden. 

The  Russian  officer  shrugs  his  shoulders  and  mut- 
ters some  politeness  through  his  beard.  The  Eng- 
lishmen visit  the  Russian  fort.  Very  polite  are  the 
Russians  but  very  deficient  in  English  speech  when 
Ogden  blusters  about  treaty  rights. 

"  The  thing  can  be  arbitrated.  We'll  go  on  up  the 
river  anyway,"  protests  the  Britisher  with  that  bull- 
dog persistence  of  getting  his  teeth  in  and  hanging  on, 

335 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

which  characterized  his  Company.     Then  the  Rus- 
sians suddenly  find  their  English. 

"If  you  do,  we'll  fire." 

Word  is  sent  to  Baron  Wrangel  of  Sitka,  but  Baron 
Wrangel  is  opportunely  absent.  For  ten  days,  they 
jangle,  these  rival  traders.  Then  Peter  Skene  re- 
tires from  the  coast  to  be  appointed  Chief  Factor  of 
New  Caledonia. 

But  the  matter  is  not  permitted  to  end  here.  In 
1838,  McLoughlin  visits  England.  The  case  is  laid 
before  the  Board  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  lays  the  case  before  the 
great  British  Government,  and  for  those  ten  days' 
delay  and  those  violations  of  treaty  rights  and  those 
damages  to  British  dignity,  a  bill  of  ;^2o,ooo  is  pre- 
sented to  the  Russian  Government.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  know  how  the  items  of  that  bill  were 
made  up.  Deep  is  the  craft  of  these  gamesters  of 
the  wilderness.  They  probably  never  intended  that 
the  bill  should  be  paid,  but  it  acts  as  a  lever  for  what 
they  really  do  want;  and  they  will  generously  waive 
all  claims  of  compensation  for  damaged  dignity  if 
the  Russians  will  lease  to  them  a  ten-mile  shore  strip" 
at  the  rate  of  2,000  land  otter  skins  a  year. 

"Owning  half  a  continent,  what  in  thunder  did 
they  want  with  a  ten-mile  shore  strip?"  a  British 
diplomat  asked;    but  it  takes  more  than  a  British 

336 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

diplomat  to  fathom  the  motives  of  a  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  man.  The  short  strip  was  a  mere  baga- 
telle. The  English  Company  wanted  to  get  into 
trade  relations  with  the  Russians.  For  this  purpose 
any  wedge  would  do — any  wedge  but  asking  trade 
as  a  favor.  The  fine  point  was  to  put  the  other 
fellow  at  a  disadvantage  and  make  him  sue  for  the 
privilege  of  granting  the  favor,  which  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  wanted. 

Curious — you  may  search  the  records  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  from  the  time  of  Radisson  to 
Simpson;  the  method  is  always  the  same;  motives 
not  only  secret  but  deliberately  hidden  by  every 
subterfuge  and  trick  that  craft  could  devise;  a  secret 
aim  worked  out  by  diplomatic  cunning,  so  that  the 
other  party  to  the  aim  shall  sue  for  the  privilege  of 
doing  exactly  what  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
wants.  Altogether,  it  is  very  funny;  and  altogether, 
marvelously  clever;  and  with  it  all — don't  forget — 
was  the  noblesse  oblige  of  the  grand  old  gentlemen 
of  the  grand  old  school,  who  play  patron  to  every 
good  cause  and  would  not  rob  man,  woman,  child, 
bird  or  beast  of  as  much  as  a  crumb.  Where  does  it 
come  from — that  curious  diplomacy  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company?  Is  it  an  inheritance  of  feudalism, 
of  the  mediaeval  court  ways,  when  a  prince  made  his 
subjects  thankful  to  God  for  having  their  pockets 

337 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

picked  by  his  dainty  fingers?  To  Radisson,  the 
Company  owed  its  existence.  Yet  they  made  him 
glad  to  beg  for  a  penny.  The  French  won  the  bay 
fairly  in  open  war.  Yet  the  Company  made  France 
glad  to  give  up  all  possessions  by  the  simple  trick  of 
presenting  claims  of  £200,000.  And  when  negoti- 
ations opened  with  Canada  for  the  surrender  of  the 
monopoly  in  the  Northwest,  by  some  legerdemain  of 
diplomacy,  Canadian  statesmen  were  glad  to  pay 
millions  in  cash  and  millions  in  land  for  the  relin- 
quishment of  a  charter — which,  from  the  Canadian 
point  of  view— the  Company  ought  never  to  have 
been  allowed  to  possess.  The  very  year  that  Rus- 
sian negotiations  are  in  progress,  Pelly,  the  English 
governor  of  the  Company,  and  Simpson,  the  colonial 
governor,  have  both  been  knighted  for  their  loyal 
care  of  British  interests  abroad. 

Let  us  follow  the  diplomacy  of  the  ten-mile  strip. 
While  diplomats  are  busy  in  England,  Fort  Simpson 
has  been  rebuilt  on  a  better  site  by  the  same  men  of 
The  Dryad  repulsed  at  Stickine.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  Skeena,  the  H.  B.  C.  flag  now  flies  above  Port 
Essington  (1835).  Also  on  the  Stickine  inland  from 
the  Russian  strip,  Glenora  and  Mumford  have  been 
built. 

Back  came  McLoughlin  and  the  newly  knighted 
338 


McLoughlin^s  Transmontane  Empire 

Simpson  from  the  Board  Meeting  in  London.  Mc- 
Loughlin  came  by  way  of  Canada.  A  special  brigade 
is  organized  at  Montreal  to  take  possession  of  the 
leased  ten-mile  strip.  Spring,  1840,  James  Douglas 
in  command,  assisted  by  Glen  Rae,  McLoughlin's 
son-in-law,  by  John  McLoughlin,  Jr.,  and  fifty 
others,  the  brigade  leaves  Fort  Vancouver,  ascends 
the  Cowlitz  River,  portages  overland  to  Puget  Sound 
and  at  Nisqually  boards  the  little  steamer  Beaver 
for  the  North.  Pause  is  made  at  Langley  on  the 
Fraser  just  in  time  to  see  the  embers  of  the  burnt 
fort.  Jimmie  Yale  is  housed  in  tents  with  the  sav- 
ages howling  around  him  ready  to  attack.  Douglas 
lands  his  men  and  rebuilds  Langley.  Next  stop  at 
Fort  Simpson,  then  up  to  the  Russian  redoubt  on 
the  Stickine,  where  fifty  Russian  soldiers  are  in 
charge.  McLoughlin,  Jr.,  drops  off  here  with  eigh- 
teen men  to  take  over  the  fort. 

"Eighteen  men!  Do  these  British  traders  know 
the  nature  of  the  savages?"  ask  the  amazed  Rus- 
sians. And  the  Beaver  goes  on  to  Sitka  with  Doug- 
las. Loud  roars  the  welcome  from  the  Russian  guns 
in  honor  of  Douglas.  Green  were  the  waters  of  the 
mountain  girt  harbor,  gold  and  opal  the  shimmering 
mountains.  Etholinc  is  Russian  Governor  in  charge 
now,  a  military  officer  with  his  bride;  and  gay  is 
Sitka  with  bunting  and  Chinese  lanterns  and  feast 

339 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

and  dance  while  the  Hudson's  Bay  men  visit  the  fort. 
What  did  they  talk  about  over  their  cups,  these  crafty 
gamesters  of  the  wilderness,  when  Etholine's  bride  and 
Glen  Rae's  wife — Eloise  McLoughlin — had  with- 
drawn and  left  the  feasters  to  wassail  till  midnight? 
Who  knows!  It  was  the  policy  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  from  the  beginning  to  tell  absolutely 
nothing.  Until  they  played  their  cards,  these  game- 
sters never  showed  their  hands.  All  we  know  is  when 
Douglas  left  Stickine,  the  Russian  company  had 
agreed  to  buy  all  the  supplies  they  could  procure 
from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  farms  on  Puget 
Sound  and  the  Willamette  and  the  Columbia.  That 
was  cheaper  than  bringing  supplies  all  the  way  across 
Siberia;  and  the  supplies  were  paid  for  in  Alaskan 
furs.  You  see  the  fine  hand  of  the  Company's  di- 
plomacy? On  the  supplies  was  a  profit  varying 
from  looo  to  2000  per  cent.  On  the  furs  taken  in 
exchange  was  another  profit  unspecified  but  easily 
guessed  when  it  is  known  that  the  Russians  got  their 
furs  from  the  Aleutians  by  club  law.  What  had  the 
deal  cost  the  English?  Two  thousand  land  otter  a 
year  for  a  ten-mile  strip,  the  said  otter  bartered  from 
the  Indians  at  about  two  shillings  each.  But  one 
bad  blunder  was  made,  which  did  not  come  out  till 
long  after.  Russia  had  tried  in  vain  to  raise  her 
own  supplies  on  a  farm  at  Bodega,  California.     On 

340 


McLoughlin's   Transmontane  Empire 

the  farm  were  some  1500  sheep  and  3000  cattle  and 
horses.  Ethohne  offered  to  sell  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  all  Russia's  holdings  in  California  for 
$30,000.  There  the  old  diplomacy  of  always  hag- 
gling till  you  caught  the  other  party  to  the  bargain  at 
a  disadvantage — over-reached  itself.  Douglas  hag- 
gled and  missed  the  bargain;  and  the  bargain  was  a 
chance  to  give  his  Company  foothold  in  a  country, 
owned  by  Mexico,  which  in  turn  owed  debt  of  five 
million  pounds  to  British  financiers.  It  is  a  sort  of 
subterranean  diplomacy,  after  all,  but  one  can  guess 
to  what  end  these  hidden  motives  were  aiming. 

While  the  Company  builds  yet  more  forts  up 
the  Pacific  Coast — Tako,  and  later  Nanaimo — John 
McLoughlin,  Jr.,  reigns  at  Stickine.  Glen  Rae,  who 
came  with  Douglas  to  help  establish  the  post,  has 
gone  on  down  to  California  in  connection  with  that 
secret  Hudson's  Bay  diplomacy.  McLoughlin  was 
an  example  of  reversion  to  ancestral  type.  In  his 
veins  flowed  the  blood  of  his  mother's  Indian  race; 
and  in  him  were  all  the  passions  and  few  of  the  vir- 
tues of  either  his  mother's  or  father's  race.  Morose, 
severe,  vindictive  with  his  men,  he  had  neither  the 
strength  of  will  nor  good  fellowship  to  hold  the  loyalty 
of  his  staff.  Outside  the  fort  were  two  thousand  of 
the  fiercest  Indians  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Mclaugh- 
lin rightly  forbade  the  use  of  liquor  with  these  sav- 

341 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ages,  but  while  he  interdicted  his  men  from  all  vices, 
he  indulged  in  wildest  orgies  himself.  In  his  cups, 
like  many  morose  men,  he  became  so  genial  that  he 
actually  plied  his  traders  with  the  forbidden  liquor. 
Excesses  followed  such  outbursts  as  are  better  guessed 
than  told.  One  night  toward  the  end  of  April,  1842, 
McLoughlin  was  on  one  of  his  sprees  and  the  fort 
was  a  roaring  bedlam  of  drunken,  yelling,  fighting 
white  men;  while  outside  camped  the  Indian  war- 
riors ready  for  a  raid.  A  French  Canadian  was  for 
breaking  rules  and  rushing  past  the  sentry  out  to  the 
Indian  camp.  McLoughlin  roared  out  an  oath  for- 
bidding him.  The  drunken  Frenchman  turned  and 
shot  his  leader  dead.  Four  days  later  came  Sir 
George  Simpson  to  find  flags  at  half-mast  and  the 
murderer  in  irons.  Henceforth,  no  more  rum  in 
Pacific  Coast  trade!  Governor  Simpson  for  the 
English,  and  Governor  Etholine  for  the  Russians, 
bound  themselves  to  abolish  the  use  of  liquor  in 
trade.  The  murderer  was  carried  to  Sitka  for  trial 
but  escaped  punishment,  probably  because  Mc- 
Loughlin was  so  much  in  the  wrong  that  the  dead 
trader's  conduct  would  not  bear  the  light  of  investi- 
gation.- This  caused  the  first  friction  between  Gov- 
ernor Simpson  and  Chief  Factor  McLoughlin.  The 
governor  blamed  the  doctor  for  placing  such  a  worth- 
less son  in  charge  of  any  fort. 

342 


McLoughlins   Transmonianc  Empire 

What  was  William  Glen  Rae,  Eloise  McLoughlin's 
husband,  doing  in  California? 

He  had  been  McLoughlin's  chief  lieutenant  before 
Douglas  came  down  from  New  Caledonia.  Swarthy, 
straight  as  a  lance,  somber  and  passionate  in  his  loves 
and  hates,  Rae  was  a  Scotchman  of  princely  presence, 
like  all  the  men  whom  McLoughlin  chose  for  pro- 
motion. Loyal  to  his  father-in-law  to  a  degree,  he 
was  the  very  man  for  a  delicate  mission  of  possibly 
far-reaching  importance. 

Away  back  in  1828,  when  Ogdeh  was  leading  the 
Southern  Brigades  to  Nevada  and  Utah  and  Mt. 
Shasta,  four  white  men — Jedediah  Smith  and  Amer- 
ican trappers — had  escaped  with  their  lives  from  the 
Umpqua  River  region  and  come  to  Fort  Vancouver 
destitute,  wounded,  almost  naked.  They  had  been 
trapping  in  California  and  following  up  the  valley  of 
the  Sacramento  had  crossed  over  to  the  Umpqua 
intending  to  proceed  East  by  way  of  the  Columbia 
when  the  party  of  twenty  was  attacked  at  the  ford 
of  Umpqua  River.  Fifteen  of  the  trappers  were 
shot  down  instantly  by  the  Umpqua  and  Rogue 
River  Indians.  All  the  horses  were  stampeded. 
Goods,  furs,  everything  was  plundered,  the  results 
of  two  years'  toil.  Breathless  and  foredone,  the 
refugees  rapped  at  the  gates  of  Fort  Vancouver. 
They  were  Americans.    They  were  rivals.    "You 

343 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

must  positively  drive  out  all  American  trappers," 
Simpson  had  ordered  McLoughlin.  And  these  men 
belonged  to  the  same  St.  Louis  outfitters,  who  had 
profited  by  the  robbing  of  Peter  Skene  Ogden.  "  Heh ! 
What?  American  trappers?  Bless  my  soul,"  ex- 
claimed the  Hudson's  Bay  Mcl.oughlin.  "How  on 
earth  did  you  come  over  the  mountains  all  this  way? 
What — robbed?  You  don't  tell  me?  Plundered; 
and  by  our  Indians?  Fifteen  men  murdered !  Come 
in!  Come  in!  McKay,  there,  I  say  McKay,"  he 
shouted  to  his  step-son  scout,  "I  say  McKay,  hear 
this!  These  gentlemen  have  been  robbed  by  the 
Rogue  River  Indians.  Where's  La  Framboise?  (the 
guide).  Saddle  the  horses  quick!  Take  the  South 
Brigade!  Go  rescue  these  gentlemen's  property!" 
And  the  hoofs  of  the  South  Brigade  have  not 
clanked  far  on  the  trail  at  a  gallop  before  McLoughlin 
has  the  refugees  in  the  mess-room  plied  with  food, 
while  he  questions  them  of  minutest  detail.  The 
Americans  are  completely  in  his  power.  He  supplies 
them  with  clothing  and  an  outfit  to  proceed  East  by 
way  of  the  Columbia;  but  what  does  he  do  with  the 
furs  Tom  McKay  brings  back  with  the  South  Brigade 
after  a  wordy  tussle  and  the  giving  of  many  presents 
to  the  Rogue  River  Indians?  Ogden  had  been 
robbed  by  Americans.  Surely  here  is  a  chance  to 
even  the  score!    Can  one  imagine  a  grasping  Wall 

344 


McLoughlins   Transmoiitane  Emjnre 

Street  Croesus  missing  such  an  opportunity  to  cripple 
a  rival?  And  I  have  just  related  how  deep,  how 
crafty,  how  subtle  and  devious  the  Company  policy 
could  be  at  times.  What  did  McLoughlin  with 
these  rivals  in  his  power,  who  had  injured  him?  He 
wrote  Smith  a  draft  for  the  entire  lot  of  furs  at  the 
current  London  prices — $20,000  some  reports  say; 
others  put  it  $40,000. 

McKay  and  McLeod  are  at  once  sent  down  with 
the  South  Brigade  to  build  a  Hudson's  Bay  fort  on 
the  Umpqua.  It  is  known  as  McKay's  fort.  La 
Framboise — ^Astor's  old  interpreter — and  McKay 
now  regularly  range  the  Sacramento,  though  Sutter, 
the  Swiss  adventurer,  who  has  a  fort  of  his  own  on 
the  Sacramento,  tries  to  stir  up  the  Spaniards  against 
them  and  a  subsequent  arrangement  with  the  Spanish 
authorities  expressly  stipulates  that  only  thirty  trap- 
pers shall  be  allowed  in  the  brigades.  Who  is  to 
count  those  thirty  trappers  in  mountain  wilds?  La 
Framboise  and  McKay  led  as  many  as  two  hundred 
to  the  very  doors  of  Monterey.  It  may  have  been  a 
necessity  of  the  climate.  It  may  have  been  a  dis- 
guise; but  the  H.  B.  C.  brigades  of  California  dressed 
so  completely  disguised  as  Spaniards  that  they  almost 
deceived  Sir  George  Simpson. 

It  was  in  Simpson's  fertile  brain  that  the  whole  Cali- 
fornia   scheme   originated.     December,   1841,  Mc- 

345 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Loughlin,  Douglas  and  Simpson  sail  into  the  harbor 
of  San  Francisco.  By  land  go  McKay  and  La 
Framboise  and  Ermatinger  with  the  brigades.  Presto ! 
First  news!  Sutter,  the  Swiss,  had  already  bought 
the  Russian  fort  at  Bodega  for  $30,000.  Douglas 
grinds  his  teeth;  but  Sir  George  Simpson  is  not  dis- 
couraged. Mexico  owes  England  five  million,  he 
says;  and  these  Spanish  colonies  are  having  fresh 
revolutions  almost  every  year.  They  are  wined  and 
dined  and  feasted  and  feted  by  the  pleasure-loving 
Spaniards  at  General  Vallejo's,  and  later  meet  Gen- 
eral Alvarado  at  Monterey.  What  did  they  talk 
about?  Again  I  answer — we  must  judge  by  the  cards 
which  the  gamesters  played.  It  is  permitted  the 
Hudson's  Bay  may  have  a  trading  post  at  Yerba 
Buena,  in  other  words,  San  Francisco.  It  is  per- 
mitted they  may  buy  Spanish  hides  and  Spanish 
stock  to  be  paid  in  trade  from  the  stores  of  Fort  Van- 
couver— goods  from  England.  Also,  of  course,  it  is 
understood  these  South  Brigades  have  not  come  to 
trap  at  all,  but  just  to  drive  the  purchased  stock 
North  by  way  of  the  Sacramento  to  the  Columbia. 
Simpson  and  Douglas  and  McLoughlin  depart  well 
satisfied. 

Next  year,  in  May,  came  Rae  by  boat  to  carry  out 
the  plans,  and  Birnie,  the  Scotch  warder  of  the  Co- 
lumbia bars  at  old  Astoria,  as  clerk,  and  Sinclair  as 

346 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

trader,  and  McKay  and  Ermatinger  by  land  as 
leaders  of  the  inland  brigades.  Rae  lands  goods 
worth  $10,000,  and  takes  possession  of  a  1000  acre 
farm  on  the  site  of  the  modem  San  Francisco,  and 
purchases  a  building  worth  $4,600  to  house  the  goods. 
Eloise  McLoughlin,  Rae's  wife,  does  not  come  at 
once ;  and  the  Spaniards  are  a  pleasure-loving  people. 
Wines  are  used  more  than  water,  and  the  handsome 
Scotchman  is  no  unwelcome  visitor  to  the  lavish 
homes  of  the  proud  Mexicans.  What  with  wine  and 
beautiful  Spanish  women  as  different  from  the  Half- 
breed  wives  of  the  North  as  wine  from  water,  and 
plotting  and  counter-plotting  of  revolutionists — did 
Rae  lose  his  head?  Who  can  tell?  It  would  have 
needed  a  wise  head  to  remain  steady  in  an  atmos- 
phere so  charged  with  political  intrigue — intrigue 
which  Rae  had  been  appointed  to  watch.  He  cer- 
tainly drank  hard,  and  he  may  have  cherished  errant 
love,  too,  for  when  Eloise  McLoughlin,  his  girl 
bride,  came  down  from  the  Columbia  River,  high 
words  were  often  heard  between  the  two.  American 
influence  was  waxing  strong  in  San  Francisco;  and 
in  his  cups,  Rae  was  wont  to  boast  "that  it  had  cost 
^£75,000  to  drive  Yankee  traders  from  the  Columbia, 
and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  would  drive  them 
irom  California  if  it  cost  a  million." 

Came  one  of  the  sporadic  revolutions.     The  revo- 
347 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

lutionists  were  partial  to  the  English,  hostile  to  the 
Americans.  Rae  furnished  the  rebels  with  arms. 
They  were  defeated.  They  had  not  paid  for  their 
arms.  Rae  found  himself  responsible  for  a  loss  of 
$15,000 — some  accounts  say  $30,000 — to  his  Com- 
pany. That  he  was  in  love  with  a  Spanish  woman 
may  have  been  a  baseless  rumor;  but  if  there 
were  a  shadow  of  truth  in  it,  it  must  have 
furnished  additional  reason  for  discrediting  him 
with  his  father-in-law — McLoughlin.  January,  the 
19th,  at  eight  A.  M.,  Sinclair,  the  clerk,  heard  loud 
cries  above  the  store.  He  dashed  upstairs  into  Rae's 
apartments  to  find  him  standing  in  the  presence  of 
Eloise  McLoughlin  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand  ready 
to  kill  himself.  Sinclair  knocked  the  weapon  from 
his  hand.  A  shot  rang  out.  Rae  had  had  another 
pistol  and  fell  to  the  floor  with  his  brains  blown  out. 
On  a  table  near  were  the  bottle  of  an  opiate,  which 
he  had  taken  to  deaden  pain,  and  his  will,  written 
that  very  morning.  His  wife  fainted.  Absolutely 
nothing  more  is  known  of  the  tragedy  than  the  facts 
I  have  set  down  here.  It  is  a  theme  rather  for  the 
novelist  than  the  historian.  Simpson  ordered  the 
San  Francisco  post  closed.  Dugald  McTavish  came 
down  in  March  of  '46  to  close  up  affairs.  The  one- 
thousand-acre  farm,  which  would  have  netted  the 
Company  more  than  all  the  furs  of  Oregon  if  they 

348 


McLoughlin's  Transmontane  Empire 

had  held  on  to  it  till  San  Francisco  grew  to  be  a  city, 
was  relinquished  without  any  compensation  of  which 
I  could  find  a  record.  The  store  was  sold  for  $5,cxx>. 
So  ended  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  ambitions 
for  empire  in  California.  The  truth  is — in  spite  of 
Sir  George  Simpson's  efforts,  and  owing  to  blunders 
on  the  part  of  the  British  Government,  which  will 
be  given  in  the  next  chapter,  the  Company  was  play- 
ing such  a  losing  game  in  Oregon,  it  was  useless  to 
hold  on  to  California  longer. 


Notes  to  Chapter  XXXII. — This  entire  chapter  deals  with 
such  a  vast  field  and  with  so  many  disputed  points,  it  would 
literally  require  a  large  volume  to  give  all  the  authorities  or 
deal  in  detail  with  the  disputes.  I  have  not  attempted  to  give 
a  chronological  account  of  McLoughlin's  empire.  So  vast  was 
it  and  so  varied  the  episodes,  a  chronological  account  would 
have  required  a  jumping  from  spot  to  spot  from  Alaska  to 
California,  resembling  the  celerity  of  a  flea.  Instead,  I  have 
grouped  the  leading  episodes  and  leading  characters  and  leading 
legends  according  to  area,  and  told  each  district's  story  in  a 
separate  group.  This  gives  at  least  enough  coherence  to  keep 
the  facts  in  memory. 

As  to  authorities,  I  have  drawn  my  data  primarily  from  the 
Archives  of  H.  B.  C.  House;  secondarily  from  such  marvelous 
collections  of  data  as  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft's,  and  Father 
Morice  and  the  hundreds  of  old  navigators  and  traders  whose 

{'oumals  of  this  era  have  been  given  to  the  world.  In  addition, 
.  have  consulted  every  authority  who  has  ever  written  on  the 
era.  Naturally,  among  so  many  authorities,  there  are  wide 
discrepancies.  Where  I  have  taken  my  information  from  Hu- 
bert Howe  Bancroft,  I  have  quoted  him  word  for  word,  with  full 
credit,  but  in  two  or  three  cases,  it  will  be  seen  my  story  differs 
from  his;  for  instance,  the  story  of  Douglas  at  Stuart  Lake,  in 
which  his  version  makes  Douglas  out  a  hero,  mine  makes  Douglas 
out  a  very  human  hero,  learning  the  lessons  that  afterward 
made  him  great.  In  each  case  where  my  version  differs  from 
Mr.  Bancroft 's,  my  authority  has  been  the  H.  B.  C.  Archives— 

349 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


which  were  not  accessible  when  Mr.  Bancroft  wrote,  or  such  well- 
known  "sources  as  Morice,  who  got  his  facts  on  the  spot,  while 
Bancroft  had  to  depend  on  the  memory  and  contradictory  testi- 
mony of  old  retired  factors. 

Again  in  the  case  of  names,  take  one  example.  Different 
authorities  refer  to  the  ubiquitous  McKay  as  Robt.,  Alex,  Dan, 
Joseph.  Now  there  may  have  been  all  these  McKays  in  the 
Oregon  service,  for  the  McKays  of  the  fur  trade  were  legion. 
But  the  McKay,  who  led  the  South  Brigade,  was  one  and  the 
same  and  only  Tom  McKay,  son  of  Mrs.  McLoughlin's  first  hus- 
band. Another  error — it  is  said  this  McKay  took  cruel  part  in 
the  Seven  Oaks  massacre.  To  say  that  Tom  McKay,  who  from 
the  time  of  his  father's  death  hated  Indians  from  the  marrow 
of  his  bones,  took  part  in  a  massacre  of  white  men — is  simply 
absurd.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  Tom  McKay  must  have  been 
about  ten  years  old  at  that  time.  He  certainly  was  present; 
but  I  should  be  reluctant  to  believe  that  a  boy  of  that  age  fought 
and  killed  a  full  grown  H.  B.  C.  soldier.  A  hundred  such  dis- 
crepancies occur  in  the  California  story,  which  space  forbids  my 
pointing  out,  but  where  I  have  departed  from  old  authorities,  1 
have  been  guided  by  H.  B.  C.  manuscripts.  For  instance,  all 
authorities  say  H.  B.  C.  trappers  were  not  in  California  before 
1835 ;  yet  I  read  fifteen  hundred  pages  of  their  wanderings  there, 
before  1828. 

Okanogan  is  spelled  as  many  ways  as  it  has  letters.  I  have 
spelled  it  the  way  it  is  pronounced — O-kan-og-an.  I  need  not 
explain  such  place  names  as  Okanogan,  Kamloops,  Nicola  are 
from  Indian  tribes. 

In  H.  B.  C.  House  are  simply  tons  of  MSS.  bearing  on  Mc- 
Loughlin,  which  I  did  not  go  over  because  they  deal  with  the 
story  where  I  leave  off — namely  where  the  history  of  the  H.  B.  C. 
becomes  the  history  of  the  pioneer  and  the  colonist.  He,  who 
takes  up  the  story  where  I  leave  off,  will  need  to  spend  both 
time  and  money  on  transcripts  of  these  folios.  There  are  liter- 
ally tons. 

The  descriptions  of  the  fur  brigades  are  taken  from  the 
journals  of  the  leaders  and  of  the  missionaries  who  accom- 
panied them. 

Bancroft  has  been  accused  of  telling  his  legends  too  dramati- 
cally. How  could  the  legends  be  anything  but  dramatic?  It 
was  a  dramatic  life  day  and  night  all  the  year  round. 

Two  or  three  places,  I  have  not  given  the  names  of  the  factors 
who  succeeded  each  other  directly,  skipping  nonentities,  or  men, 


McLoughlin*s  Transmontane  Empire 


who  ruled  for  only  a  few  months,  for  instance,  McDonaJ4  and 
Manson  at  Langley  before  Yale.  In  H.  B.  C.  Archives  is  a  very 
full  account  of  these  Fraser  River  forts.  Also  it  has  been  im- 
possible to  give  the  founding  of  the  coast  forts  chronologically. 
Rupert  and  Nanaimo  both  came  after  the  abandonment  of  Mc- 
Loughlin  Fort,  and  there  were  two  Fort  Simpsons. 

A  tragic  story  attaches  to  Paul  Fraser,  son  of  Simon,  which 
space  forbids  giving.  It  will  be  found  in  Morice's  "New  Cale- 
donia." 

Jno.  Stuart  of  New  Caledonia  was  a  cousin  of  Lord  Strathcona 
and  the  influence  that  induced  young  Donald  Smith  to  join  the 
fur  traders. 

Majme  is  resf>onsible  for  the  story  of  Douglas  and  the  treacle. 

A  g^eat  many  KipUngs  served  in  the  H.  B.  C.  from  1750; 
all  as  seamen. 


351 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

1840-1859 

THE  PASSING  OF  THE  COMPANY — THE  COMING  OF  THE 
COLONISTS  TO  OREGON — THE  FOUNDING  OF  VIC- 
TORIA NORTH  OF  THE  BOUNDARY — WHY  THE  H. 
B.  C.  GAVE  UP  OREGON — MISRULE  OF  VANCOUVER 
ISLAND — ^MCLOUGHLIN's  RETIREMENT. 

ANOTHER  subject  had  McLoughlin  and 
Simpson  laid  before  the  Governing  Board 
-  of  London  in  that  winter  of  1838-39.  The 
treaty  of  joint  occupation  continued  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain;  but  Americans 
were  yearly  drifting  into  the  valley  of  the  Columbia. 
First  came  such  occasional  trappers  as  Jedediah 
Smith  and  Wyeth,  retreating  with  loss  of  life  at  the 
hands  of  the  Indians  and  loss  of  profits  from  the  op- 
position of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Of  the 
two  hundred  men  who  followed  Wyeth  through  the 
mountains  in  the  early  thirties,  one  hundred  and 
sixty  were  killed;  but  men  like  Wyeth  and  Kelley, 
of  Boston,  sent  back  word  to  the  Eastern  States  of 
the  marvelous  wealth  in  forest  and  land  of  this  Ore- 
gon empire.    Then  came  the  missionaries  in  1834, 

352 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


the  Lees,  and  WTiitmans,  and  Spauldings — a  story 
that  is,  in  itself,  a  book;  but  it  does  not  concern  this 
record  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Mission- 
aries were  not  in  the  service  of  the  English  corpora- 
tion. They,  too,  sent  word  to  the  East  of  openings 
in  the  Oregon  country  for  the  American  settler.  To 
be  sure,  two  thousand  miles  of  waste  land  and  moun- 
tain lay  between  the  Eastern  home  seeker  and  this 
Promised  Land,  but  was  that  a  thing  to  deter  fron- 
tiersmen whose  ancestors  had  hewn  their  way  from 
Virginia  across  the  Blue  Mountains  to  the  Bloody 
Ground  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky?  The  adven- 
ture of  it  but  acted  as  a  spur.  Old  pathfinders  who 
had  settled  down  as  farmers  on  the  frontier  of  the 
Missouri  and  Mississippi,  felt  again  the  call  of  the 
wilderness,  shouldered  their  rifles,  and  with  families 
in  tented  wagons  set  out  for  Oregon.  Another 
cause  stimulated  the  movement.  In  the  East  were 
hard  times.  The  railroad  had  not  yet  reached  the 
pioneer  of  the  prairie.  He  had  no  way  of  sending  his 
produce  to  market.  Far  ofif  hills  looked  green.  If 
he  could  but  reach  the  Columbia — he  thought — 
there  was  the  ocean  at  his  door  as  a  highway  for 
commerce. 

American  farmers  began  to  drift  to  the  Columbia 
Valley.  At  first  there  was  no  general  movement. 
The  thing  was  almost  imperceptible.    Wandering 

353 


Tlie  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

trappers  turned  farmers  and  squatted  down  with 
their  families  in  the  valleys  of  the  Willamette  and  the 
Walla  Walla  and  the  Cowlitz.  Then,  as  early  as 
1838,  four  families  from  the  East  came  riding  over 
the  mountains  seeking  homesteads.  McLoughlin 
shook  his  head.  The  thing  seemed  almost  impos- 
sible. He  remembered  what  the  coming  of  the  col- 
onists had  meant  in  Red  River — the  beginning  of 
the  end  with  the  fur  trade;  and  in  Oregon,  the  com- 
ing of  the  colonist  would  be  fraught  with  more  im- 
portance. If  American  settlers  outnumbered  Eng- 
lish traders,  diplomacy  might  fold  its  hands.  Joint 
occupancy  would  end  in  American  possession.  From 
the  first,  McLoughlin  had  encouraged  his  old  traders 
and  trappers  to  settle  on  farms  in  the  Willamette 
Valley^at  the  famous  Champoeg  Colony.  Fort 
Vancouver,  itself,  now  comprised  thirty  miles  of  cul- 
tivated land,  but  between  the  Columbia  and  the  Rus- 
sian posts  to  the  north  was  no  settlement,  only  fur 
posts,  and  this  was  the  very  region  where  hinged  the 
dispute  between  England  and  the  United. States  for 
possession. 

"Fifty-four  forty  or  fight,"  became  the  slogan  of 
the  jingoists,  which  meant  the  United  States  claimed 
territory  as  far  as  54°;  in  a  word  to  the  Russian 
possessions.  In  a  nutshell,  the  reasons  for  the  claim 
were  these: 

354 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


When  the  United  States  took  over  Louisiana, 
Louisiana  extended  to  the  Columbia.  Gray,  the 
Boston  trader,  had  discovered  the  Columbia  River. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  the  American  explorers,  had 
erected  their  wintering  fort  on  its  banks.  Astor,  the 
American  trader,  had  built  his  fur  post  on  the 
Columbia  before  the  Canadians  had  come;  and 
though  the  fort  was  sold  to  the  Canadians,  after  the 
war  of  1812,  the  American  flag  had  been  restored 
to  Astoria,  though  it  remained  in  possession  of  the 
Canadians. 

Answered  the  British  to  these  claims:  Louisiana 
may  extend  to  the  Columbia,  but  it  does  not  extend 
beyond  it.  Gray,  the  Boston  man,  may  have  dis- 
covered the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but  Vancouver, 
the  Englishman,  in  the  same  year  as  Gray's  voyage, 
ascended  the  Columbia,  and  explored  every  inch  of 
the  coast  from  the  Columbia  to  the  Russian  settle- 
ments, taking  possession  for  Great  Britain.  Espe- 
cially, did  he  discover  all  parts  of  Puget  Sound. 
Astor,  the  American,  may  have  built  the  first  fur  post 
on  the  Columbia,  but  Astor's  managers  sold  that 
post  to  the  Canadian  Company;  and  though  the 
American  flag  was  restored  to  Astoria,  it  was  dis- 
tinctly on  the  specified  understanding  that  the  treaty 
of  joint  occupancy  should  not  prejudice  the  final  de- 
cision of  possession  in  Oregon. 

355 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Jingoists  in  England  wanted  all  of  Oregon.  Jin- 
goists  in  America  wanted  all  of  British  Columbia's 
coast  up  to  Sitka.  Wise  heads  in  England  were  will- 
ing that  the  boundary  should  be  compromised  at  the 
north  bank  of  the  Columbia.  Wise  heads  in  America 
were  willing  to  relinquish  United  States  claims  be- 
yond the  forty-ninth  parallel;  but  the  foolish  catch 
cry  of  "Fifty-four  forty  or  fight"  was  being  used  as 
an  election  dodge  and  stirred  up  ill  feeling  enough  to 
prevent  compromise  on  either  side. 

While  pompous  statesmen,  who  knew  absolutely 
nothing  about  Oregon,  were  deluging  Congress  and 
Parliament  with  orations  on  the  subject  of  the 
boundary,  ragged  men  and  women,  colonists  in 
homespun,  colonists  many  of  them  too  poor  for  even 
homespun,  with  barefooted  children,  and  men  and 
women  clad  in  buckskin,  were  settling  the  question 
in  a  practical  way.  They  were  not  talking  about 
possessions.     They  were  taking  possession. 

This  was  the  situation  as  McLoughlin  and  Simp- 
son laid  it  before  the  Governing  Board  in  the  winter 
of  1838-39.  Now  fur  traders  never  yet  welcomed 
colonists.  The  coming  of  the  colonists  means  the 
going  of  the  game;  but  something  must  be  done  to 
counteract  these  American  settlers  and  if  possible 
hold  the  Columbia  River  as  a  highway  for  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  brigades.     The  Puget  Sound  Agricultural 

356 


The  Passinq  of  the  Company 


Company  was  formed  with  Hudson's  Bay  men  as 
stockholders  and  McLoughlin  as  manager,  to  hold 
the  country  between  Columbia  River  and  Puget 
Sound — modern  Washington — for  the  English.  The 
capital  was  ;(^2oo,ooo  in  2000  shares ;  but  there  never 
was  any  intention  that  the  venture  should  pay.  Very 
little  of  the  capital  was  ever  paid  in.  The  aim  was  to 
hold  a  region  as  large  as  England  and  Scotland  for 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

Coming  back  to  Oregon,  in  1839,  with  his  son 
David,  now  a  graduated  doctor,  McEoughlin  sent 
his  old  trappers  into  the  Cowlitz  Valley  as  settlers, 
and  had  a  farm  of  five  thousand  acres  measured  off 
for  the  Puget  Sound  Company.  Here  the  stock  was 
raised  that  supplied  the  inland  posts  with  food. 
Hudson's  Bay  men  from  Red  River  were  sent  over- 
land to  colonize  the  Puget  Sound  region.     • 

The  precaution  was  useless.  There  are  times 
when  the  ragged  colonist  in  homespun  is  wiser  than 
the  wariest  diplomat  that  kingcraft  ever  produced. 
Congressional  disputes,  missionary  lectures,  the  re- 
port of  the  American  secret  agent  Slocum  sent  from 
Washington  to  observe  the  trend  of  events  on  the 
Pacific,  the  efforts  of  the  Oregonian  Society  formed 
in  Massachusetts — all  fanned  the  flame  of  emigration 
to  the  West  to  a  furore.     More  settlers  in  tented 

357 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

wagons  rolled  slowly  westward  from  the  Missouri. 
Jason  Lee  comes  back  with  more  missionaries  in 
1840.  Lieutenant  Wilkes  of  the  American  Explor- 
ing Squadron  slips  up  the  Columbia,  in  1841,  to 
observe  things  for  himself.  In  1842,  Doctor  White 
leads  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  people  to 
the  Columbia,  and  all  the  while  the  settlers  are 
clamoring  to  Washington  for  two  things:  (i)  land 
grants  for  the  farms  on  which  they  have  "squatted" 
— some  of  them  have  ''squatted"  on  as  much  as 
1000  acres;  (2)  extension  of  American  Government 
over  them.  And  all  the  while,  Washington  poli- 
ticians delay  to  close  the  boundary  dispute.  Why? 
Every  day's  delay  brought  more  settlers  into  the 
country  and  strengthened  the  American  claim. 

Lieutenant  Wilkes  of  the  American  Squadron 
visits  McLoughlin  at  Fort  Vancouver.  McLoughlin 
returns  the  courtesy  by  going  across  to  the  American 
ships  off  Puget  Sound  and  dining  with  Wilkes.  Un- 
fortunately, while  McLoughlin  was  absent,  down 
came  Sir  George  Simpson  with  the  Columbia  brigade 
from  New  Caledonia.  It  w^as  the  5th  of  July. 
Simpson's  suspicions  took  fire.  Was  McLoughlin 
— the  Company's  Chief  Factor — celebrating  the  4th 
of  July  on  the  American  ship?  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  McLoughlin  had  been  invited  to  do  so,  but  out 
of  respect  for  his  Company  had  gone  across  a  day 

358 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


late.  McLoughlin  returned  to  find  Simpson  in  a 
towering  rage,  raking  Douglas  and  Ogden  and  Erma- 
tinger  over  the  coals  for  not  "driving  out  the  Ameri- 
cans." Wilkes  came  back  with  McLoughlin.  The 
encounter  must  have  been  comical.  Sir  George,  icy 
and  frigid  and  pompous  at  the  head  of  the  banquet 
table;  Wilkes,  the  American,  suave  and  amused; 
Douglas,  grave,  plainly  perceiving  the  time  had 
come  when  he  must  choose  between  loyalty  to 
McLoughlin  or  loyalty  to  Simpson;  Ogden,  down 
from  New  Caledonia,  pudgy  and  good  natured  as 
usual,  but  missing  not  a  turn  of  the  by-play;  Erma- 
tinger  doing  his  best  to  fill  in  the  heavy  silence  with 
tales  of  his  mountain  brigade ;  the  Governor's  High- 
land pipers  puffing  and  skirling  and  filling  the  great 
dining  hall  with  tunes  of  Scottish  Highlands.  What 
were  McLoughlin's  thoughts?  Who  knows?  Simp- 
son's orders  were  to  give  no  aid  of  any  sort  to  Ameri- 
can colonists  and  missionaries;  but  McLoughlin — 
as  one  of  the  Company's  directors  afterward  re- 
ported— was  not  a  man  to  be  bulldozed.  He,  too, 
perceived  the  time  had  come  when  he  must  choose 
between  his  Company  and  his  conscience;  for  no 
man  ever  appealed  in  vain  to  McLoughlin  for  aid. 
To  colonists  and  missionaries  alike,  he  extended 
goods  on  credit.  If  he  had  not,  the  chances  are  they 
would  have  passed  their  first  year  on  the  Columbia 

359 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

in  semi-starvation;  and  to  their  shame,  be  it  said, 
some  forgot  to  pay  the  debts  they  owed  Mcl^oughlin. 
To  them,  he  was  the  hated  aristocrat,  representative 
of  the  hated  EngHsh  monopoly,  that  was  trying  to 
wrest  Oregon  from  American  control.  Not  the  re- 
proofs of  his  Company,  not  the  rage  of  his  governor, 
but  the  ingratitude  of  the  people  whose  lives  he  had 
saved  at  sacrifice  to  himself — cut  McLoughlin  to  the 
quick.  The  very  winter  after  Governor  Simpson's 
visit,  a  petition  was  drawn  up  by  the  settlers  and 
forwarded  to  Congress,  bristling  with  bitter  charges 
against  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

One  more  influence  tended  to  quicken  the  pulse  of 
public  interest  in  Oregon.  This  was  the  famous  and 
disputed  Whitman  Ride.  Did  Doctor  Whitman, 
the  missionary,  save  Oregon?  For  years  popular 
sentiment  cherished  the  belief  that  he  did.  Of  late, 
historical  critics  have  gone  to  the  other  extreme.  The 
facts  are  these.  It  is  not  easy  to  make  converts  of 
Indians.  Results  are  of  slow  growth.  In  the  fall  of 
1842,  the  Missionary  Board  of  the  East  decided  to 
withdraw  its  mission  on  the  Walla  Walla.  To  Whit- 
man such  a  move  at  this  critical  time  when  a  straw's 
weight  might  turn  the  balance  either  way  to  England 
or  to  the  United  States — seemed  nothing  short  of  a 
national  calamity.  "I  must  go  East,"  he  told  his 
wife.     "I  must  see  Webster  at  Washington,  but  the 

360 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Mission  can  send  me  to  Boston.  I  don't  want  the 
Hudson's  Bay  to  know  what  I  am  about."  It  was 
already  October.  Snow  was  falling  on  the  moun- 
tains. The  passes  were  closed  for  the  year.  "Can 
I  get  through  to  the  East?"  Whitman  asked  trappers 
and  Indians.  In  answer,  they  laughed.  The  thing 
was  not  only  impossible — it  was  mad.  But  Whitman 
had  already  accomplished  things  both  mad  and  im- 
possible. He  had  brought  wagons  across  moun- 
tains, where  fur  traders  said  wagons  could  never 
come;  and  he  had  led  missionaries  over  mountain 
barriers  difficult  as  any  Alps  scaled  by  European 
warriors.  Accompanied  by  Lovejoy,  a  lawyer,  Whit- 
man set  out  on  October  3rd.  Mrs.  Whitman  re- 
mained alone  at  the  mission  till  the  danger  of  a  brutal 
Indian,  trying  to  force  his  way  into  her  room  at  night, 
induced  the  dauntless  woman  to  accept  Chief  Trader 
McKinlay's  invitation  to  go  down  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  fort  at  Walla  Walla,  where  Mrs.  McKinlay, 
Peter  Ogden's  daughter,  afforded  companionship. 
On  pressed  Whitman  over  the  mountains.  This  was 
the  ride  famous  in  the  Western  States.  Its  story 
belongs  more  to  the  pioneer  than  the  Company. 
Therefore,  it  may  not  be  related  here.  Suffice  to  say. 
Whitman  increased  "the  Oregon  fever"  already  rag- 
ing in  the  East.  He  stirred  up  Webster,  and  he 
stirred  up  Congress,  and  he  stirred  up  missionary 

361 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

boards  of  every  denomination.  Fremont  was  ap- 
pointed by  Congress  to  convoy  the  emigrants  west- 
ward. The  Oregon  movement  of  1843  would  have 
been  important  without  Whitman's  crusade.  With 
his  crusade,  it  became  epoch-marking.  If  this  was 
"saving  Oregon,"  then  spite  of  historic  critics,  Whit- 
man played  an  important  r61e. 

The  movement  westward  had  become  a  tide. 
From  Massachusetts,  from  the  Mississippi  States, 
from  the  South,  the  emigrants  gathered  to  Fort  In- 
dependence on  the  Missouri  for  the  long  trip  over- 
land. This  was  the  starting  point  of  the  Oregon 
Trail.  Tented  wagons — the  prairie  schooner — pack 
horses,  ox  carts,  straggling  herds  of  horses  and  cattle 
and  sheep  came  rolling  to  the  Missouri  in  '43.  May 
22nd,  with  a  pilot  to  the  fore  and  a  whoop  as  signal, 
the  long  line  files  out  for  Oregon — one  thousand 
persons,  one  hundred  and  twenty  wagons,  some  five 
thousand  head  of  stock.  On  the  Kansas,  in  June, 
pause  is  made  to  elect  officers  and  maintain  some 
kind  of  system.  Peter  Burnett,  a  lawyer,  is  chosen 
Captain;  J.  W.  Nesmith,  second  in  command,  with 
nine  others  as  assistant  officers.  Later,  the  travelers 
going  light — on  horseback  or  in  light  wagons — march 
to  the  fore.  The  heavy  wagons  and  ox  carts  and 
stock  come  behind.  The  former  division  is  known 
as  "the  light,"  the  latter  as  "the  cow  column." 

362 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Chief  leader  of  the  slow-goers  is  Jesse  Applegate,  a 
man  to  become  famous  in  Oregon. 

It  is  like  the  migration  of  ancient  people  in  pre- 
historic times — the  rise  at  dawn,  the  rifle  shot  to 
signal  watch  for  the  night  is  over,  the  tents  and 
wagons  pouring  out  the  people  to  begin  another  day's 
march,  the  women  cooking  breakfast  over  camp- 
fire,  the  men  rounding  up  the  stock!  Forward  scour 
the  scouts  to  see  that  no  danger  besets  the  trail. 
Oxen  are  slowly  hitched  to  the  wagons  forming  a 
circular  fort  for  the  night  camp ;  and  these  drag  out 
in  divisions  of  fifteen  or  twenty  each.  Young  men 
on  horseback  flank  the  trail  as  out-guards  and  hunters. 
These  have  arduous  work.  They  must  ride  twenty 
miles  from  the  humming  caravan  before  they  will 
find  scampering  game  for  the  night  supper.  Sharp 
at  seven  A.  m.  a  trumpet  blows.  The  long  whips  lash 
out.  The  wagons  rumble  into  motion.  The  out- 
riders are  off  at  a  gallop.  The  long  caravan  moves 
drowsily  forward,  and  the  camping  place  sinks  on 
the  horizon  like  a  sail  at  sea.  Pilots  choose  water- 
ing place  for  the  noon  hour,  but  teams  are  not  un- 
hitched. Promptly  at  one,  writes  Mr.  Applegate, 
"the  bugle  sounded  and  the  caravan  resumed  its 
western  journey.  Drowsiness  falls  on  man  and 
beast.  Teamsters  drop  asleep  on  their  perches 
.     .     .     till  the  sun  is  low  in  the  west."    Again  the 

363 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

pilot  has  chosen  good  watering  place  for  camping 
ground,  and  the  wagons  circle  into  a  corral  for  the 
night. 

By  the  end  of  August  j  the  pioneers  are  in  the 
mountains  at  Fort  Hall,  on  the  very  borders  of  their 
Promised  Land.  Two-thirds  of  the  journey  lies  be- 
hind them,  but  the  worst  third  is  to  the  fore,  though 
they  are  now  on  the  outskirts  of  what  was  then  called 
Oregon.  Doctor  Whitman  goes  ahead  with  the  trail 
breakers  to  cut  a  road  for  the  wagons  through  the 
dense  mountain  forests.  Space  does  not  permit  the 
details  of  this  part  of  the  journey.  This,  too,  be- 
longs to  the  story  of  the  pioneer.  It  was  November 
before  the  colonists  reached  the  Columbia.  How 
splendid  was  the  reward  of  the  long  toil,  they  now 
know ;  but  ominous  clouds  gathered  over  the  colony. 
The  Columbia  was  a  swollen  sea  with  the  autumn 
rains.  The  Indians  were  rampant,  stampeding  the 
stock. 

"Shall  we  kill — is  it  good  we  kill — these  Bostonais 
who  come  to  take  our  lands?"  the  excited  natives 
asked  McLoughlin,  the  Hudson's  Bay  man,  at  Fort 
Vancouver.  To  Pacific  Coast  Indians,  all  Ameri- 
cans were  Boston  men,  so  named  froni  the  first  ship 
seen  on  the  coast.  "Shall  we  kill  these  Boston  men 
who  make  bad  talk  against  the  King  George  men?" 

"Kill?  Who  said  the  word?"  thundered  Mc- 
364 


The  Passing  of  the  Covipany 


Loughlin,  thinking,  no  doubt,  to  what  lengths  such 
a  game  on  the  part  of  the  fur  trader  led  in  Red  River; 
and  it  is  said  he  knocked  the  Indian  miscreant  down. 

"The  people  have  no  boats.  They  are  without 
food  or  clothing,"  messengers  reported  at  the  Com- 
pany fort. 

The  weather  had  turned  damp  and  cold.  Autumn 
rains  were  slashing  down  slantwise.  Again  Mc- 
Loughlin  had  to  choose  between  his  Company  and 
his  conscience.  Had  he  but  restrained  his  hand — 
done  nothing — disease  and  exposure  would  have 
done  more  than  enough  to  the  incoming  colonists; 
but  he  did  not  hesitate  one  moment,  not  though  the 
colonists  were  cursing  him  for  a  Hudson's  Bay  op- 
pressor and  the  Company  threatening  to  dismiss 
him  for  his  friendship  with  the  Americans.  In- 
stantly, he  sent  his  traders  upstream  with  rafts  and 
boats  and  clothing  and  provisions  for  the  belated 
people. 

"  Pay  me  back  when  you  can,"  was  the  only  bond 
he  laid  on  the  needy  people;  and  a  good  many  paid 
him  back  by  cursing  him  for  "an  aristocrat."  Rain 
was  drenching  down  as  the  boats  came  swirling 
opposite  Vancouver  Fort.  On  the  wharf  stood  the 
Chief  Factor,  long  hair,  white  as  snow,  blowing  wet 
in  the  wind,  with  hand  of  welcome  and  cheer  ex- 
tended for  every  comer.    One  woman  had  actually 

365 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

given  birth  to  a  child  as  the  rafts  came  down  the 
Columbia.  For  days,  the  Company's  fort  was  like 
a  fair — five  hundred  people  at  a  time  housed  under 
Vancouver's  roofs  or  camped  in  the  courtyard  till 
every  colonist  had  erected,  and  taken  his  family  to, 
his  own  cabins. 

Among  so  many  heterogeneous  elements  as  the 
colonists  were  some  outlaws,  and  these  within  a 
few  months  were  threatening  to  "burn  Fort  Vancou- 
ver about  the  old  aristocrat's. ears."  The  colonists 
had  organized  a  provisional  government  of  their  own 
— which  is  a  story  by  itself;  and  they  begged 
McLoughlin  to  subscribe  to  it  that  they  might  pro- 
tect Fort  Vancouver  from  the  lawless  spirits. 

"You  must  positively  protect  your  rights  here  and 
at  once  or  you  will  loose  the  country,"  McLoughlin 
had  written  to  the  Governing  Board  of  London. 
No  answer  had  come.  The  threats  against  Fort 
Vancouver  became  bolder.  The  Indian  conspiracy, 
that  shortly  deluged  the  land  in  blood,  was  throwing 
off  all  concealment.  McLoughlin  built  more  bas- 
tions and  strengthened  his  pickets.  Still  no  answer 
came  to  his  appeal  for  protection  by  the  English  Gov- 
ernment. Colonists,  who  loved  McLoughlin  as 
"the  father  of  Oregon,"  begged  him  to  subscribe  to 
the  provisional  government.  Ogden  advised  it. 
Ermatinger  was  ready  to  become  an  American  cit- 

366 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


izen,  Douglas  was  absent  in  the  North.  Fearful 
of  Indian  war  now  threatening  and  dreading  still 
more  an  international  war  over  the  possession  of 
Oregon,  McLoughlin,  after  long  struggles  between 
Company  and  conscience,  after  prayers  for  hours  on 
his  knees  for  God's  guidance  in  his  choice — sub- 
scribed to  the  provisional  government  in  August, 
1844. 

Six  months  too  late  came  the  protection  for  which 
he  had  been  asking  all  these  years — the  British  Pa- 
cific Squadron.  Perhaps  it  was  as  well  that  the  war 
vessels  did  come  too  late,  for  Captain  Gordon, 
commander  of  the  fleet  and  brother  to  Aberdeen, 
then  Cabinet  Minister  of  England,  was  a  pompous, 
fire-eating,  blustering  fellow,  utterly  incapable  of 
steering  a  peaceful  course  through  such  troublous 
times.  With  Gordon  boasting  how  his  marines 
could  "drive  the  Yankees  over  the  mountains,"  and 
outlaws  among  the  colonists  keen  for  the  loot  of  a 
raid  on  Fort  Vancouver — friction  might  have  fanned 
to  war  before  England  or  the  United  States  could 
intervene. 

The  main  fleet  lay  off  Puget  Sound.  The  ship 
Modiste,  with  five  hundred  marines,  anchored  in  the 
Columbia  off  Vancouver  and  patrolled  the  river  for 
eighteen  months,  men  drilling  and  camping  on  the 
esplanade  in  front  of  the  fur  post. 

367 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

Came  also  in  October,  1845,  two  special  commis- 
sioners from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  to  report 
on  Oregon.  The  report  was  sent  back  without 
McLoughlin's  inspection.  They  had  reported  against 
him  for  favoring  the  American  settlers.  Knowing 
well  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  end,  McLoughlin 
sent  for  Douglas  to  come  down  and  take  charge. 
The  mail  of  the  following  spring  dismissed  Mc- 
Loughlin from  the  service.  That  is  not  the  way 
it  was  put.  It  was  suggested  he  should  retire. 
McLoughlin  gave  up  the  reins  in  1846  and  withdrew 
from  Vancouver  Fort  to  live  among  the  settlers  he 
had  befriended  at  Oregon  City  on  the  Willamette. 
He  died  there  in  1857.  It  is  unnecessary  to  express 
an  opinion  on  his  character.  The  record  of  his  rule 
in  Oregon  is  the  truest  verdict  on  his  character.  His 
was  one  of  the  rare  spirits  in  this  world  that  not  only 
followed  right,  but  followed  right  when  there  was 
no  reward;  that  not  only  did  right,  but  did  right 
when  it  meant  positive  loss  to  himself  and  the  stabs 
of  malignity  from  ungrateful  people  whom  he  had 
benefited.  The  most  of  people  can  act  saintly  when 
a  Heaven  of  prizes  is  dangling  just  in  front  of 
the  Trail,  but  fewer  people  can  follow  the  narrow 
way  when  it  leads  to  loss  and  pain  and  ignominy. 
McLoughlin  could,  and  that  Christ-like  quality  in 
his  character  places  him  second  to  none  among  the 

368 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


heroes  of  American  history.  As  Selkirk's  name  is 
indissolubly  connected  with  the  hero-days  of  Red 
River,  so  McLoughHn's  is  enshrined  in  the  heroic 
past  of  Oregon.  In  Hudson's  Bay  House,  London, 
I  looked  in  vain  for  portraits  or  marble  busts  of  these 
men.  Portraits  there  are  of  bewigged  and  beruffled 
princes  and  dukes  who  ruled  over  estates  that  would 
barely  make  a  back-door  patch  to  Red  River  or 
Oregon;  but  not  a  sign  to  commemorate  the  fame 
of  the  two  men  who  founded  empires  in  America, 
greater  in  area  than  Great  Britain  and  France  and 
Germany  and  Spain  combined. 

It  would  be  interesting  from  a  colonial  point  of 
view  to  know  just  what  qualifications  the  British 
Government  thought  Commander  Gordon  of  the 
Pacific  Squadron  and  his  officers,  Lieut.  William 
Peel,  son  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  Lieutenant  Parke 
of  the  Royal  Marines,  possessed  to  judge  whether 
Oregon  was  worth  keeping  or  not.  It  would  be 
interesting  from  a  purely  Canadian  point  of  view. 
American  historians,  who  ought  to  be  profoundly 
grateful  to  Gordon  for  his  blunders,  pronounce  him 
the  most  consummate  bungler  ever  sent  on  an  Inter- 
national mission.  Reference  has  been  made  in  an 
introductory  chapter  as  to  how  these  naval  officers 
dealt  with  the  matter  and  the  grave  injustice  they 

369 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

did  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Parke  and  Peel 
came  down  to  the  Columbia  and  passed  some  weeks 
on  hunting  expeditions  up  the  Walla  Walla  and  the 
Willamette.  They  surveyed  Fort  Vancouver  and 
laughed.  All  the  international  pother  about  that 
wooden  clutter!  They  observed  the  colonists  and 
laughed!  Why,  five  hundred  marines  from  any  one 
of  their  fifteen  war  ships  lying  in  Puget  Sound  could 
send  these  barefooted,  buckskin-clad,  tobacco-spit- 
ting settlers  skipping  back  over  the  mountains  to  the 
United  States  like  deer  before  the  hunt  in  English 
parks!  To  the  two  naval  officers,  these  people  were 
but  low-living  peasants.  It  did  not  enter  into  the 
narrow  vision  of  their  insular  minds  that  out  of  just 
such  material  as  these  rough  pioneers  do  new  nations 
grow.  The  two  gentlemen  regarded  the  whole  ex- 
pedition as  a  holiday  lark.  They  had  a  good  time! 
Up  on  Puget  Sound  Gordon  was  serving  the  British 
Government  still  more  worthily.  He  had  landed  at 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  new  post  of  Victoria — 
of  which  more  anon.  He  was  given  the  best  that  the 
fur  post  could  offer — table  of  wild  fowl  and  the 
Company's  best  wines,  but  Half-breed  servants  do 
not  wait  on  a  table  like  an  English  butler;  and  berth 
bunks  are  not  English  feather  beds;  and  an  ocean 
full  of  water  is  not  an  English  bath.  Alas  and  alas, 
poor  gentleman !    Such  sacrifices  is  he  called  to  make 

370 


I'he  Passing  of  the  Company 


for  his  country's  service!  Then  my  gentleman  de- 
mands what  sport.  "Deer,"  says  Finlayson,  "or 
bear  hunting;  or  fishing." 

"Do  you  use  flies  or  bait?"  asks  Gordon  with  a 
due  sense  of  condescension  for  having  deigned  to  en- 
quire about  this  barbarous  land's  sport  at  all.  Fin- 
layson must  have  had  some  trouble  not  to  choke 
with  laughter  when  my  gentleman  insists  on  fishing 
with  flies  in  streams  where  salmon  could  be  scooped 
in  tubfuls.  Later,  he  deigns  to  go  hunting  and  in- 
sists that  deer  be  run  down  in  the  open  as  they  hunt 
in  enclosed  Scottish  game  preserves,  not  still-hunted, 
which  is  a  barbarous  way;  with  the  consequence 
that  Gordon  does  not  get  a  shot.  In  vain  Finlayson 
and  Douglas,  who  comes  North,  try  to  please  this 
mannikin  in  gold  braid.  In  response  to  their  admi- 
ration of  the  mighty  mountains,  he  makes  answer 
that  goes  down  to  history  for  civility — "that  he  would 
not  give  the  bleakest  knoll  on  the  bleakest  hill  of 
Scotland  for  all  these  mountains  in  a  heap." 

Oregon's  provisional  government  forced  the  boun- 
dary dispute  to  an  issue.  It  must  be  settled.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  press  their  case,  pleading 
that  if  the  American  colonists  are  to  retain  all  south 
of  the  Columbia,  then  the  Company,  having  settlers 
between  the  Columbia  and  Puget  Sound,  should 
retain  all  between  Columbia  River  and  Puget  Sound. 

371 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

The  case  hangs  fire.  Gordon  is  called  in.  In 
language  which  I  have  given  in  a  former  chapter,  he 
declares  the  country  is  not  worth  keeping.  Naturally, 
Aberdeen  listens  to  his  own  brother's  opinion  and 
Peel  to  his  son's.  By  treaty  of  June,  1846,  England 
relinquishes  claims  to  all  territory  south  of  49°. 
Gradually  fur  trader  is  crowded  out  by  settler.  In 
i860,  Fort  Vancouver  is  dismantled  and  taken  over 
as  a  military  station  by  the  United  States.  Erma- 
tinger,  for  having  joined  the  Oregon  government,  is 
packed  off  to  a  post  in  Athabasca.  Ogden  saves 
himself  from  punishment  by  following  McLoughlin's 
example  and  resigning  to  become  a  settler  on  the 
Willamette.  For  the  Puget  Sound  farms,  the  Com- 
pany receives  compensation  of  $450,000  and  $200,000 
from  the  American  Government ;  the  former  amount 
payable  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  proper,  the 
latter  to  the  Puget  Sound  Company,  though  the 
shareholders  were  nominally  the  same  persons. 

So  ended  the  glories  of  the  fur  trade  in  Oregon. 
It  still  had  a  few  years  to  run  in  British  Columbia. 
Long  ago  McLoughlin  had  plainly  seen  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  in  Oregon  and  sent  Douglas  to  spy 
out  the  site  of  a  permanent  fort  north  of  49°. 

It  is  really  one  of  the  most  interesting  studies  in 
American  history  to  observe — if  it  can  be  done  with- 

372 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


out  prejudice  or  prepossession — how  when  this  great 
Company,  changing  in  its  personnel  but  ever  carry- 
ing down  in  its  apostolic  succession  the  same  tradi- 
tions of  statecraft,  of  obedience,  of  secrecy,  of  diplo- 
macy— how  when  this  great  Company  had  to  take  a 
kick,  it  took  it  gracefully  and  always  made  it  a  point 
of  being  kicked  «/>,  not  down.  This  is  illustrated 
by  the  Company's  policy  now. 

Cruising  north  in  June  of  '42,  Douglas  notices 
two  magnificent  bays  north  of  49°,  on  the  south  end 
of  Vancouver  Island  opposite  what  is  now  British 
Columbia.  The  easterly  bay  named  by  the  Ijidians, 
Camosun,  meaning  rush  of  waters,  offers  splendid 
sea  space  combined  with  a  shore  of  plains  interspread 
with  good  building  timber.  Also,  there  are  fresh- 
water streams.  The  other  bay,  three  miles  west, 
called  Esquimau — the  place  of  gathering  of  roots — 
is  a  better,  more  land-locked  harbor  but  more  diffi- 
cult of  anchorage  for  small  boats.  Simpson  and 
McLoughlin  decide  to  build  a  new  fort  at  Camosun 
— the  modern  Victoria.  Those,  who  know  the  re- 
gion, need  no  description  of  its  beauty.  To  those 
who  do  not,  descriptions  can  convey  but  a  faint 
picture.  Islands  ever  green,  in  a  climate  ever  mild, 
dot  the  far- rolling  blue  of  a  summer  sea ;  and  where 
the  clouds  skirt  the  water's  horizon,  there  breaks 
through  mid-heaven,  aerial  and  unreal,  the  fiery  and 

373 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

opal  dome  of  Mt.  Baker,  or  the  rifted  shimmering, 
ragged  peaks  of  the  Olympic  Range  in  Washington. 
So  far  are  the  mountains,  so  soft  the  air,  that  not  a 
shadow,  not  a  line,  of  the  middle  heights  appear,  only 
the  snowy  peaks,  dazzling  and  opalescent,  with  the 
primrose  tinge  of  the  sheet  lightning  at  play  like 
the  color  waves  of  Northern  Lights.  Westward  is  the 
sea;  eastward,  the  rolling  hills,  the  forested  islands, 
unexpected  vistas  of  sea  among  the  forests,  of 
precipices  rising  sheer  as  wall  from  the  water.  Hither 
comes  Douglas  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  new  empire. 
To  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  the  world  is  indebted 
for  details  of  the  founding  of  Victoria.  Bancroft 
obtained  the  facts  first-hand  from  the  manuscripts 
of  Douglas,  himself.  Fifteen  men  led  by  Douglas 
left  the  Columbia  in  March,  '43.  Proceeding  up  the 
Cowlitz,  they  obtained  provisions  from  the  Puget 
Sound  Company  at  Nisqually  and  embarking  on 
The  Beaver,  March  the  13th,  at  ten  a.  m.,  steamed 
northward  for  Vancouver  Island.  At  four  o'clock, 
the  next  afternoon,  they  anchored  just  outside  Camo- 
sun  Bay.  "On  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  March, 
Douglas  set  out  from  the  steamer  in  a  small  boat  to 
examine  the  shore.  .  .  .  With  the  expedition 
was  a  Jesuit  missionary,  Bolduc.  .  .  .  Repair- 
ing to  the  great  house  of  the  Indian  village,  the  priest 
harangued  the  people     .     .     .     and  baptized  them 

374 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


till  arrested  by  sheer  exhaustion.  The  i6th,  having 
determined  on  a  site,  Douglas  put  his  men  at  work 
squaring  timbers  and  digging  a  well.  He  explained 
to  the  natives  that  he  had  come  to  build  among  them, 
whereat  they  were  greatly  pleased  and  pressed  their 
assistance  on  the  fort  builders,  who  employed  them 
at  the  rate  of  a  blanket  for  every  forty  pickets  they 
would  bring.  .  .  .  Sunday,  the  19th,  Bolduc 
decided  to  celebrate  mass.  Douglas  supplied  him 
with  men  to  aid  in  the  holy  work.  A  rustic  chapel 
was  improvised ;  a  boat's  awning  serving  as  canopy, 
branches  of  fir  trees  enclosing  the  sides.  No  cathe- 
dral bell  was  heard  that  Sabbath  morning  .  . 
and  yet  the  Songhics,  Clallams,  and  Cowichins  were 
there,  friends  and  bloody  enemies.  .  .  .  Bolduc, 
desirous  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  Whidby  Island, 
was  paddled  thence  on  the  24th.     ..." 

While  his  men  proceeded  with  the  building,  Doug- 
las went  north  on  The  Beaver  to  dismantle  Fort 
Tako  and  Fort  McLoughlin  and  bring  the  men  from 
these  abandoned  posts  to  assist  at  Camosun.  "The 
force  now  numbered  fifty  men  .  .  .  armed  to 
the  teeth  .  .  .  constantly  on  guard."  By  Sep- 
tember, stockades,  bastions  and  dwelling  houses 
were  complete.  Douglas  departed  in  October,  leav- 
ing Charles  Ross  in  charge,  but  Ross  died  in  the 
spring  of  '44  and  Roderick  Finlayson  became  chief 

375 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

trader  at  Camosun,  first  named  Albert  Fort  after  the 
Prince  Consort,  then  Victoria,  its  present  name, 
after  the  Queen  of  England.  Finlayson  had  been 
in  charge  of  a  little  post  at  Bytown — the  modern 
Ottawa,  but  coming  to  Oregon  had  been  dispatched 
north  to  SticMne. 

The  steamer  had  not  been  long  gone  when  the 
Cowichin  Indians  fell  to  the  pastime  of  slaughtering 
the  fort  cattle.  Finlayson  demanded  pay  or  the  sur- 
render of  the  Indian  ''rustlers."  The  Indian  chief 
laughed  the  demand  to  scorn. 

"The  fort  gates  will  be  closed  against  you,"  warned 
Finlayson. 

"And  I  will  batter  them  down,"  retorted  the  chief. 

"The  spirit  of  butchery,"  relates  Bancroft,  "was 
aroused.  Within  the  fort,  watch  was  kept  day  and 
night.  After  a  lapse  of  two  days,  the  threatened 
attack  was  made.  Midst  savage  yells,  a  shower  of 
musket  balls  came  pattering  down  upon  the  fort, 
riddling  the  stockades  and  rattling  on  the  roofs.  In- 
stantly, Finlayson  shouted  his  order  that  not  a  shot 
was  to  be  returned.  .  .  .  The  savages  continued 
their  fire  .  .  .  then  rested  from  the  waste  of 
ammunition.  .  .  .  Then  the  commander  (Fin- 
layson) appeared  .  .  .  and  beckoned  (the  chief) 
.  .  .  'What  would  you  do?' exclaimed  Finlayson. 
*What  evil  would  you  bring  upon  yourselves!   Know 

Z7^ 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


you  that  with  one  motion  of  my  finger  I  could  blow 
you  all  into  the  bay?  And  I  will  do  it!  See  your 
houses  yonder!' 

"Instantly,  a  nine-pounder  belched  forth  with 
astounding  noise,  tearing  to  splinters  the  cedar  lodge. 

"Finlayson  had  ordered  his  interpreter  to  run  to 
the  lodges  and  warn  the  inmates  to  instant  flight. 
Hence  no  damage  was  done  save  shivering  to  splinters 
some  pine  slabs." 

The  results  were  what  one  might  expect.  The 
Indians  sued  for  peace,  and  paid  full  meed  in  furs 
for  the  slaughtered  cattle. 

It  may  be  added  here  as  a  sample  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company's  economy  in  detail — that  Fort  Vic- 
toria was  built  without  the  driving  of  a  single  nail. 
Wooden  pegs  were  used.  After  the  relinquishment 
of  Oregon,  the  old  Okanogan  -  Kamloops  trail  could 
be  no  longer  used.  Anderson  of  Fort  Alexandria  in 
New  Caledonia  succeeded  in  1845-46  in  finding  and 
cutting  a  new  trail  down  the  Fraser  to  Langley  and 
Victoria.  This  was  the  trail  that  later  developed 
into  the  famous  Cariboo  Road  of  the  miners  and  of 
which  ruins  may  still  be  seen  clinging  to  the  preci- 
pices above  the  Fraser  like  basket  work,  the  strands 
of  the  basket  bridges  being  huge  cedar  logs  mor- 
tised in  places  for  a  depth  of  hundreds  of  feet. 
Except  where  the  embankment  has  crumbled  be- 

377 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

neath  the  timber  work,  Anderson's  old  fur  trail  is 
still  used  to  enter  Cariboo.  From  1846,  one  Joseph 
McKay  becomes  chief  clerk  under  Chief  Factor 
Douglas  of  Victoria.  Indians  brought  first  word  of 
the  famous  coal  beds  of  North  Vancouver  Island. 
Hence  the  building  of  Fort  Rupert  on  Beaver  Harbor 
in  '43. 

And  now  occurs  the  fine  play  of  the  Company's 
rare  diplomacy.  Rumors  of  gold  in  California  are 
arousing  the  fever  that  is  to  result  in  the  pell-mell 
stampede  of  the  famous  '49.  At  any  time,  similar 
discoveries  may  bring  a  stampede  to  the  North.  No 
one  knew  better  than  the  Company  those  Indian 
legends  of  hidden  minerals  in  the  Rockies,  and  when 
colonists  came  there  would  be  an  end  to  the  fur  trade. 
Did  the  Company,  then — as  is  often  charged — con- 
ceal knowledge  of  precious  minerals  in  its  territory? 
Not  at  all.  It  simply  let  the  legends  slumber.  Its 
business  was  not  mining.  It  was  fur  trading,  and 
the  two  were  utterly  hostile. 

Came  Sir  John  Pelly,  Governor  of  the  Company 
in  England,  and  Sir  George  Simpson,  Governor  of 
the  Company  in  America,  to  the  Cabinet  Minister 
of  Great  Britain  with  a  cock-and-bull  story  of  the 
dangers  of  an  American,  not  invasion,  but  deluge 
such  as  had  swept  away  British  sovereignty  in  Ore- 
gon.   What,  they  ask,  is  to  hinder  American  colo- 

378 


The  Passing  of  the  Compamj 


nists  rolling  in  a  tide  north  of  the  boundary  and  so 
establishing  rights  of  possession  there  as  they  had 
in  Oregon.  Any  schoolboy  could  have  guessed  the 
trend  of  such  argument,  and  let  us  not  blame  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  cupidity.  It  was  a 
purely  commercial  organization,  not  a  patriotic  or 
charitable  association;  and  it  pursued  its  aims  just 
as  commercial  organizations  have  pursued  their  aims 
since  time  began — namely,  by  grabbing  all  they  could 
get.  To  talk  cupidity  is  nonsense.  Cupidity,  ac- 
cording to  the  legal  rules  of  the  game,  is  the  business 
of  a  money-getting  organization.  Not  the  cupidity 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  to  blame  for  the 
extraordinary  episodes  in  its  history.  Place  the 
blame  where  it  belongs — at  the  door  of  an  ignorance 
as  profound  as  it  was  indifferent  on  the  part  of  the 
British  statesmen  who  dealt  with  colonial  affairs. 

My  Lord  Grey  listens  to  the  warning  of  this 
impending  disaster.  What  would  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  suggest  to  counteract  such  danger? 
Modestly,  generously,  with  a  largesse  of  self-sacrifice 
that  is  appalling  to  contemplate,  the  two  Hudson's 
Bay  governors  offer  to  accept — accept,  mind  you,  not 
ask — the  enormous  burden  of  looking  after  "a//  Eng- 
land's possessions  in  North  America ^  As  a  quid 
pro  quo,  it  is  a  mere  detail  of  course — they  would 
expect  exclusive  monopoly  of  trade  in   the  same 

379 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

regions.  It  is  said  when  Gladstone,  now  rising  to 
fame,  heard  the  terms  of  this  offer,  he  burst  out  in  a 
loud  laugh  that  brought  the  blush  of  misunderstood 
modesty  to  the  brow  of  the  two  Hudson's  Bay  men. 
The  Company  dropped  the  subject  like  a  hot  coal 
for  the  matter  of  a  few  months  to  let  the  coal  cool. 
Then  they  came  at  it  again  with  an  aggrieved  air, 
demanding  government  protection  for  their  interests 
on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Earl  Grey  tumbled  into  the 
trap  with  a  celerity  that  was  beautiful.  He  answered 
"that  the  Company  must  protect  themselves."  Ex- 
actly the  answer  expected.  Then  if  "the  Company 
must  protect  themselves  from  dangers  of  American 
encroachment,  they  ask  for  exclusive  monopoly  for 
purposes  of  colonization  in — Vancouver  Island. 

For  two  years  furious  waxed  debate  in  Parliament 
and  out  on  this  request  of  the  Company.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  as  a  colonizer  was  a  new 
r61e.  Mr,  Isbister,  descendant  of  Red  River  people 
and  now  a  barrister  in  London,  has  something  to  say 
as  to  how  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  act  in  the  col- 
ony of  Red  River,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  in  Parliament 
openly  and  hotly  opposes  the  request  on  the  ground 
that  a  company  which  had  a  charter  of  exclusive 
monopoly  for  two  hundred  years  entitling  it  to 
colonize  and  had  done  nothing,  had  proved  itself 
incompetent  as  a  colonizer. 

380 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Furious  waxed  the  debate,  but  the  one  thing  lack- 
ing in  all  long-drawn  out  debates  is  a  basis  of  fact. 
Only  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  possessed  the  facts 
about  this  West  Coast.  Reports  of  such  govern- 
ment emissaries  as  Gordon  of  the  Squadron  were 
worse  than  useless.  The  opponents  were  working 
in  the  dark.  In  the  House  of  Commons  were  several 
shareholders  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  chief 
among  them,  EUice,  son  of  the  old  Nor'Wester. 

The  request  was  officially  granted  in  January, 
1849,  but  with  such  absurd  restrictions  attached, 
that  any  one  possessing  the  slightest  knowledge  of 
West  Coast  conditions  must  have  been  aware  that 
the  alleged  aim  to  colonize  was  but  a  stalking  horse 
for  other  designs.  The  Company  was  to  be  per- 
mitted to  retain  only  one-tenth  of  the  proceeds  from 
its  land  sales.  The  other  nine-tenths  were  to  be  spent 
improving  the  island.  What  bona  fide  colonization 
company  would  accept  such  conditions?  Ten  per 
cent,  of  land  sales  would  not  suffice  to  pay  for  adver- 
tising. If  no  settlement  were  made,  the  grant  was 
to  be  revoked  in  five  years.  To  the  colonists,  land 
was  to  be  sold  at  £1  ($5.00)  an  acre.  In  Oregon, 
the  colonist  could  have  640  acres  for  nothing.  For 
every  one  hundred  acres  sold  at  $5.00  an  acre,  the 
buyer  was  bound  by  covenant  to  bring  to  Vancouver 
Island  at  his  own  expense  three  families,  or  six  single 

381 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

persons.  Last  of  all  and  most  absurd  of  all,  at  the  end 
of  five  or  ten  years,  the  Government  might  buy  back 
the  Island  by  paying  to  the  Company  all  it  had  ex- 
pended. Another  point — but  this  was  not  in  the 
official  terms — retired  servants  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  might  buy  the  land  at  a  few  shillings  an 
acre.  Looking  squarely  at  this  extraordinary  con- 
tract, only  one  of  two  conclusions  can  be  reached: 
either  the  ignorance  of  conditions  was  so  dense  that 
dynamite  could  not  have  driven  a  hole  through  it, 
or  there  was  no  intention  whatever  of  colonizing 
Vancouver  Island,  the  real  design  being  twofold: 
(i)  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  keep  this  re- 
mote region  securely  British,  for  Mormons  had 
talked  of  escaping  persecution  by  going  to  Vancouver 
Island;  (2)  on  the  part  of  the  Company,  to  hold 
colonizing  in  its  own  control  to  be  forwarded  or 
retarded  as  suited  its  interests.  The  Company 
declared  that  from  the  time  Lord  Grey  framed  the 
conditions  of  the  grant,  they  knew  the  scheme  was 
foredoomed  to  failure.  This  did  not  prevent  them 
accepting  the  terms;  but  the  fur  traders  were  too 
tactful  to  suggest  one  of  their  own  men  as  governor 
of  the  new  colony.  Earl  Grey  suggested  Richard 
Blanchard,  a  barrister,  as  governor;  and  Blanchard 
foolishly  accepted  the  appointment  without  a  single 
stipulation  as  to  residence,  salary,  land,  or  staff. 

382 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Pelly  talked  unofficially  of  the  governor  being  given 
one  thousand  acres,  but  when  Blanchard  reached 
Victoria  he  found  that  Chief  Factor  Douglas  had 
received  no  instructions.  The  governor  of  the  colony 
was  to  have  only  the  use  of  the  one  thousand  acres, 
not  the  possession.  One  year  of  such  empty  honors 
satisfied  Blanchard's  ambitions.  He  had  neither 
house  nor  salary,  subjects  nor  staff,  and  came  home 
to  England  in  1851,  £1,000  the  poorer.  James  Doug- 
las, the  Chief  Factor,  was  at  once  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  Vancouver  Island. 

The  record  of  the  colony  is  not  a  part  of  the  history 
of  the  English  Adventurers,  and  therefore  is  not  given 
here.  How  many  colonists  were  sent  out,  I  do  not 
know ;  exclusive  of  the  Company's  servants,  certainly 
not  more  than  a  dozen;  including  the  Company's 
servants,  not  more  than  three  hundred  in  ten  years. 
Provisions  must  be  bought  from  the  Company.  Prod- 
uce must  be  sold  to  the  Company — a  one-sided  per- 
formance that  easily  accounted  for  the  discontent 
expressed  in  a  memorial  sent  home  with  Blanchard 
when  he  retired. 

The  man,  who  had  hauled  fish  and  furs  in  New 
Caledonia  at  $300  a  year,  was  now  governor  of  Van- 
couver Island.  James  Douglas  received  his  com- 
mission in  September  of  1851.  Five  years  ago,  he 
had  been  compelled  to  choose  between  loyalty  to 

383 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

McLoughlin,  and  loyalty  to  his  Company.  He  took 
his  choice,  was  loyal  to  his  Company  and  had  been 
promoted  to  a  position  worth  $15,000  a  year.  Events 
were  now  coming  that  would  compel  Douglas  to 
choose  between  his  country  and  his  Company. 
Wisely,  he  chose  the  former,  sold  out  all  interests  in 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  received  knighthood  in 
'59  and  died  at  Victoria  full  of  honors  in  1877.  Upon 
renewing  the  grant  of  Vancouver  Island  to  the  Com- 
pany in  1854,  the  English  Government  requested 
Douglas  to  establish  representative  government  in 
the  colony.  This  was  not  easy.  Electors  were 
scarce,  consisting  mainly  of  retired  Hudson's  Bay  of- 
ficers; and  when  Douglas  met  the  first  parliament 
of  the  Island  on  August  12,  1856,  it  consisted  of  less 
than  a  dozen  members;  all  directly  connected  with 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company;  so  that  the  governor 
was  able  to  report  to  England  that  "the  opening" 
passed  off  quietly  without  exciting  "interest  among 
the  lower  orders" — upon  which  Bancroft,  the  Ameri- 
can, wants  to  know  "who  the  lower  orders  were" 
unless  "the  pigs  on  the  parson's  pig  farm." 

As  told  in  the  story  of  Kamloops,  gold  was  dis- 
covered this  very  year  on  Thompson  River.  A  year 
later,  the  air  w^as  full  of  wild  rumors  of  gold  discov- 
eries north  of  Colville,  in  Cariboo,  on  Queen  Char- 
lotte Island.    The  tide,  that  had  rolled  over  the 

384 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


mountains  to  California,  now  turaed  to  British 
Columbia.  When  the  second  five-year  grant  of  Van- 
couver Island  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  expired 
in  1859,  it  was  not  renewed.  Douglas  foresaw  that 
the  gold  stampede  to  the  North  meant  a  new  British 
empire  on  the  Pacific.  The  discovery  of  gold 
sounded  the  death  knell  of  the  fur  lords'  ascendancy. 
Douglas  resigned  his  position  as  Chief  Factor  and 
became  governor  of  the  new  colony  now  known  as 
British  Columbia,  including  both  Vancouver  and  the 
mainland.  For  the  repurchase  of  Vancouver  Island, 
the  British  Government  paid  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  ,-^57,500.  The  Company  claimed  that  it 
had  spent  £80,000.  Among  the  gold  seekers  stam- 
peding north  from  Oregon  were  our  old  trappers 
and  traders  of  the  mountain  brigades,  led  by  Dr. 
David  McLoughlin,  now  turned  prospector. 


Notes  to  Chapter  XXXIII. — The  contents  of  this  chapter  are 
drawn  from  the  same  sources  as  XXXII;  in  addition  Hansard 
and  Congressional  Reports  for  both  the  Vancouver  Island  and 
Oregon  disputes,  the  Pari.  Enquiry  Report  of  1857:  H.  B.  C. 
Memorial  Book  on  Puget  Sound  Company;  Fitzgerald's  Van- 
couver Island,  1849;  Martin's  H.  B.  Territories,  1849;  De 
Smet's  Oregon  Missions,  1847;  Orbgon  (Quarterly)  Hist.  Soc. 
Report,  1900;  Schafcr's  Pacific  Northwest,  1905;  and  most 
important — H.  H.  Bancroft's  invaluable  transcripts  of  Douglas 
and  Finlayson  MS.  in  his  "  British  Columbia."  For  a  popular 
account  of  McLoughlin  from  an  absolutely  American  point  of 
view  nothing  better  exists  than  Mrs.  Dye's  "  Old  Oregon,'  though 
it  may  be  sniffed  at  by  the  higher  critics  for  unq^uestioning  ac- 
ceptance of  what  they  please  to  call  the  "Whitman  myth." 
whitman's  ride  was  not  all  myth,  though  the  influence  was 


385 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


greatly  exaggerated;  and  the  truth  probably  exists  half  way 
between  the  critics'  skepticism  and  the  old  legend.  Wilkes' 
Narrative  of  the  Exploring  Squadron,  1845;  the  reports  of 
Warre  and  Vavasseur,  the  two  special  spies  on  McLoughlin; 
early  numbers  of  the  old  B.  C.  Colonist  and  Cariboo  Sentinel; 
Sir  Geo.  Simpson's  Journey  Round  the  World;  Lord's  Natu- 
ralist, 1866;  Macfie's  Vancouver  Island,  1865;  Mayne's  B.  C, 
1862;  Milton's  North- West  Passage,  1869;  Paul  Kane's  Wan- 
derings, 1859;  Dunn's  Oregon  Territory,  1844;  Grant's  Ocean 
to  Ocean,  1873;  Gray's  Oregon,  1870;  Greenhow's  Oregon, 
1844;  Dawson's  Geol.  Reports,  Ottawa;  Peter  Burnett's  Let- 
ters to  Herald  N.  Y. — also  throw  side  lights  on  the  episodes 
related. 


386 


nr 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 
1857-1870 

THE  PASSING  OF  THE  COMPANY 

HE   tide  of  American  colonization   rolling 
■  westward   to   Minnesota,   to   Dakota,    to 

"■"  Oregon,  was  not  without  effect  on  the 
little  isolated  settlement  of  Red  River.  Oregon  had 
been  wrested  from  the  fur  trader,  not  by  diplomacy, 
but  by  the  rough-handed  toiler  coming  in  and  taking 
possession.  The  same  thing  happened  in  British 
Columbia  when  the  miner  came.  What  was  Red 
River — the  pioneer  of  all  the  Western  colonies — 
doing? 

The  union  of  Nor'Wester  and  Hudson's  Bay  had 
thrown  many  old  employes  out  of  work.  These  now 
retired  to  Red  River,  where  they  were  granted  one 
hundred  acres  of  land  and  paid  a  few  shillings  an  acre 
for  another  twenty-eight  acres,  making  up  farms  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  acres,  all  facing  the 
river  and  running  back  in  long,  narrow  lots  to  the 
highway  now  known  as  St.  John's  Road.  St.  John's 
and  Kildonan  expanded  to  St.  Paul's  and  St.  An- 

387 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

drew's  settlements  northward.  Across  the  river  were 
three  sets  of  settlers — the  French  Plain  Rangers,  de- 
scendants of  the  old  Nor'Westers,  the  De  Meuron 
soldiers,  and  the  Swiss.  These  gradually  clustered 
round  the  settlement  just  opposite  the  Assiniboine, 
where  the  Catholic  missionaries  were  building  chapel 
and  school,  and  the  place  became  known  as  St.  Boni- 
face, after  the  patron  saint  of  the  Germans.  In  the 
old  buildings  of  Fort  Douglas  lived  the  colony  gov- 
ernor distinct  from  the  Company  governor,  Sir 
George  Simpson,  whose  habitat  was  Fort  Garry,  near 
the  site  of  old  Fort  Gibraltar,  when  he  was  in  the  West, 
and  Lachine,  at  Montreal,  when  he  was  in  the  East. 

The  colonists  continued  to  hunt  buffalo  in  Minne- 
sota during  the  winter  and  to  cultivate  their  farms  in 
the  summer;  but  what  to  do  for  a  market?  Col- 
onists in  Oregon  could  sell  their  produce  to  the  Span- 
iards, or  the  Russians,  or  the  Yankee  skippers  pass- 
ing up  and  down  the  coast.  Colonists  in  British 
Columbia  found  a  market  with  the  miners,  but  to 
whom  could  the  Red  River  farmer  sell  but  to  the  fur 
company?  For  his  provisions  from  England,  he 
paid  a  freight  of  33  per  cent,  ocean  rate,  58  per  cent, 
profit  to  the  Company,  and  another  20  per  cent,  land 
rate  from  Hudson  Bay  to  Red  River — a  total  of 
over  1 10  per  cent,  advance  on  all  purchases.  For  what 
he  sold  to  the  Company,  he  received  only  the  lowest 

388 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


price,  and  he  might  on  no  account  sell  furs.  Furs 
were  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  Company.  For 
his  produce,  he  was  credited  on  the  books,  but  the 
credit  side  seldom  balanced  the  debit  side;  and  on 
the  difference  the  Red  River  settler  was  charged 
5  per  cent. — not  a  high  debtors'  rate  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  it  was  levied  by  a  monopoly,  that  had 
absolute  power  over  the  debtor;  and  that  the  modem 
debtors'  rate  is  legalized  at  6  and  8  per  cent.  It  was 
not  the  rate  charged  that  discouraged  the  Red  River 
settler;  but  the  fact  that  paying  an  advance  of  no 
per  cent,  on  all  purchases  and  receiving  only  the 
lowest  market  price  for  all  farm  produce — two  shil- 
lings-six pence  for  wheat  a  bushel — he  could  never 
hope  by  any  possibility  to  make  his  earnings  and  his 
spendings  balance.  Mr.  Halkett,  a  relative  of  Sel- 
kirk's, came  out  in  1822,  to  settle  up  the  affairs  of 
the  dead  nobleman.  The  Company  generously 
wrote  off  all  debt,  which  was  accumulated  interest, 
and  remitted  one-fifth  of  the  principal  to  all  settlers. 

Mr.  Halkett  and  Sir  George  Simpson  then  talked 
over  plans  to  create  a  market  for  the  colonist.  These 
successive  plans  and  their  successive  failures  belong 
to  the  history  of  the  colony  rather  than  the  history 
of  the  Company,  and  cannot  be  fully  given  here. 

There  was  the  Buffalo  Wool  Company  of  1822, 
under  Pritchard's  management,  which  set  all  the 

389 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

farmers  scouring  the  plains  as  buffalo  hunters  with 
schemes  as  roseate  as  the  South  Sea  Bubble;  and 
like  the  South  Sea  Bubble  the  roseate  scheme  came 
to  grief.  It  cost  $12.50  a  yard  to  manufacture  cloth 
that  sold  for  only  $1.10;  and  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  wrote  a  loss  of  $12,000  off  their  books  for 
this  experiment. 

Alex  MacDonell,  a  bottle-loving  Scotchman,  who 
had  acted  as  governor  of  the  colony  after  Semple's 
death,  and  who  became  notorious  as  "the  grass- 
hopper governor"  because  his  regime  caused  the 
colonists  as  great  grief  as  the  grasshopper  plague — 
now  gave  place  to  Governor  Bulger.  Over  at  the 
Company  fort,  John  Clarke  of  Athabasca  fame,  now 
returned  from  Montreal  with  an  aristocratic  Swiss 
lady  as  his  bride — acts  as  Chief  Factor  under  Gov- 
ernor Simpson. 

The  next  essay  is  to  send  Laidlaw  down  to  Prairie 
du  Chien  on  the  Mississippi  to  buy  a  stock  of  seed 
wheat  to  be  rafted  up  the  Mississippi  across  a  por- 
tage and  down  the  Red  River.  He  buys  two 
hundred  and  fifty  bushels  at  $2.40  a  bushel,  but 
what  with  rafting  and  incidentals  before  it  reaches 
the  colonist,  it  has  cost  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
£1,040.  Next,  an  experimental  farm  must  be  tried 
to  teach  these  new  colonists  how  to  farm  in  the  new 
country.    The  same  Mr.  Laidlaw  with  the  same 

390 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


grand  ideas  is  put  in  charge  of  the  Hayfield  Farm. 
It  is  launched  with  the  style  of  a  baronial  estate — 
fine  houses,  fine  stables,  a  multitude  of  servants,  a 
liberal  tap  in  the  wine  cellar;  and  a  total  loss  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  of  £2,000.  There  follow 
experiments  of  driving  sheep  to  Red  River  all  the 
way  from  Missouri,  and  of  a  Wool  Company  that 
ends  as  the  Buffalo  Company  had,  and  of  flax  grow- 
ing, the  flax  rotting  in  the  fields  for  lack  of  a  pur- 
chaser. What  with  disastrous  experiments  and  a 
grasshopper  plague  and  a  flood  that  floats  the  houses 
of  half  the  population  down  the  ice-jammed  current 
of  the  raging  Red,  the  De  Meurons  and  Swiss  become 
discouraged.  It  was  noticed  during  the  flood  that  the 
De  Meurons  had  an  unusual  quantity  of  hides  and 
beef  to  sell;  and  that  the  settlers  had  extraordinary 
difficulty  finding  their  scattered  herds.  What  little 
reputation  the  De  Meurons  had,  they  now  lost;  and 
many  of  them  with  their  Swiss  neighbors  deserted 
Red  River  for  the  new  settlements  of  Minnesota. 
From  ranging  the  plains  with  the  buffalo  hunters  of 
Pembina,  the  Swiss  came  on  south  to  Fort  Snelling, 
near  modern  St.  Paul,  and  so  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  first  settlements  in  Minnesota.  It  has 
been  charged  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
never  meant  any  of  these  experiments  to  succeed; 
that  it  designed  them  so  they  would  fail  and  prove 

391 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

to  the  world  the  country  was  unfit  for  settlement. 
Such  a  charge  is  far-fetched  with  just  enough  truth 
to  give  the  falsity  semblance.  The  Company  were 
not  farmers.  They  were  traders,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  fur  men's  experiments  at  farming  should 
be  a  failure;  but  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
deliberately  went  to  work  to  throw  away  sums  of 
money  ranging  from  $5,000  to  $17,000  will  hardly  be 
credited  with  those  who  know  the  inner  working  of 
an  organization  whose  economy  was  so  strict  it  saved 
nails  when  it  could  use  wooden  pegs. 

American  herdsmen  as  an  experiment  had  driven 
up  herds  of  cattle  to  sell  to  the  Red  River  colonists. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  trade  with  St.  Paul.  Hence- 
forward, what  produce  Red  River  people  could  not 
sell  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  was  sent  to  St. 
Paul.  Then  the  St.  Paul  traders  paid  higher  prices 
than  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Twice  a  year 
the  long  lines  of  Red  River  ox  carts,  like  Eastern 
caravans,  creaked  over  the  looping  prairie  trail  of 
Red  River  southward  to  St.  Paul  with  bufifalo  hides 
and  farm  products.  These  carts  were  famous  in 
their  day.  They  were  built  entirely  of  wood,  hub, 
spokes,  rim  and  tire  of  wheel,  pegs  even  taking  the 
place  of  nails.  Hence,  if  a  cart  broke  down  on  the 
way,  it  could  be  mended  by  recourse  to  the  nearest 
clump  of  brushwood.     The  Sioux  were  at  this  time 

392 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


the  greatest  danger  to  the  cart  brigades,  and  the 
settlers  always  traveled  together  for  protection;  but 
the  Indians  wished  to  stay  on  good  terms  with  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  had  the  settlers  carry 
an  H.  B.  C.  flag  as  a  signal  of  friendship  with  the  fur 
traders.  Within  a  few  years,  twelve  hundred  Red 
River  carts  rumbled  and  creaked  their  way  to  St. 
Paul  in  June  and  September.  Simpson  had  issued 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  notes  of  £i,  5  shillings  and 
I  shilling,  to  avoid  the  account  system,  and  these 
notes  were  always  redeemable  at  any  fur  post  for 
Company  goods,  but  in  St.  Paul,  the  settlers  for  the 
first  time  began  using  currency  that  was  coin. 

Early  in  the  thirties,  possibly  owing  to  the  dangers 
from  the  Sioux,  Governor  Simpson  ordered  the  build- 
ing of  the  stone  forts — Upper  Fort  Garry  as  a  strong- 
hold for  the  Company,  Lower  Fort  Garry  near  St. 
Andrew's  Rapids  twenty  miles  north,  as  a  residence 
for  himself  and  trading  post  for  the  lake  Indians. 
These  were  the  last  stone  forts  built  by  the  fur  trader 
in  America.  Of  Upper  Fort  Garry  there  remains 
to-day  only  the  old  gray  stone  gate,  to  be  seen  at  the 
south  end  of  Main  Street  in  Winnipeg.  Lower  Fort 
Garry  yet  stands  as  Simpson  had  it  built — the  last 
relic  of  feudalism  in  America — high  massive  stone 
walls  with  stores  and  residence  in  the  court  yard. 

Other  operations  Simpson  pushed  for  the  Com- 
393 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

pany.  McLean  is  sent  in  '37  to  explore  the  interior 
of  Labrador.  John  Clarke  is  dispatched  to  establish 
forts  down  MacKenzie  River  almost  to  the  Arctic. 
Bell  goes  overland,  in  1846,  to  the  Yukon.  Murray, 
later  of  Pembina,  builds  Fort  Yukon,  and  Campbell 
between  1840  and  1848  explores  both  the  Pelly  and 
the  Yukon,  buDding  Fort  Selkirk. 

The  explorations  that  had  begun  when  Radisson 
came  to  Hudson  Bay  in  his  canoe  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior, were  now  completed  by  the  Company's  boats 
going  down  the  MacKenzie  to  the  Arctic  and  down 
the  Yukon  to  Bering  Sea.  How  big  was  the  empire 
won  from  savagery  by  fur  trader?  Within  a  few 
thousand  miles  of  the  same  size  as  Europe.  Spain 
won  a  Mexico  and  a  Peru  from  savagery;  but  her 
soldiers'  cruelty  outdid  the  worst  horrors  of  Indian 
warfare,  steeped  every  mile  of  the  forward  march 
with  the  blood  of  the  innocent  natives,  and  reduced 
those  natives  to  a  state  of  slavery  that  was  a  hell  upon 
earth.  The  United  States  won  an  empire  from  sav- 
agery, but  she  did  it  by  an  ever-shifting  frontier, 
that  was  invariably  known  from  Tennessee  to  Ore- 
gon, as  "the  Bloody  Ground."  Behind  that  shifting 
frontier  was  the  American  pioneer  with  his  sharp- 
shooter. In  front  of  that  frontier  was  the  Indian 
with  his  tomahawk.  Between  them  was  the  Bloody 
Ground,    In    the    sixteen-hundreds,    that    Bloody 

394 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Ground  was  west  of  the  Alleghanics  in  Ohio  and 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  In  the  seventeen-hun- 
dreds,  it  had  shifted  forward  to  the  Mississippi.  In 
the  eighteen-hundreds,  it  was  on  the  plains  and  in 
the  mountains  and  in  Oregon.  Always,  the  forward 
step  of  white  man,  the  backward  step  of  red  man — 
had  meant  a  battle,  bloodshed;  now  the  colonists 
wiped  out  by  the  Sioux  in  Minnesota ;  or  the  m^ission- 
aries  massacred  by  the  Cayuse  in  Oregon;  or  the 
Indians  shot  down  and  fleeing  to  the  caves  of  the 
mountains  like  hunted  animals. 

How  many  massacres  marked  the  forward  march 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  from  Atlantic  to  Pa- 
cific? Not  one.  The  only  massacre,  that  of  Seven 
Oaks,  was  a  fight  of  fur  trader  against  fur  trader. 
The  raids  such  as  Hearne  saw  on  the  Coppermine 
were  raids  of  tribe  on  tribe,  not  white  man  on  Indian, 
nor  Indian  on  white  man.  "Smug  old  lady,"  ene- 
mies designated  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  "Op- 
pressor, monopoly,  intriguing  aristocrats,"  the  early 
settlers  of  Oregon  called  her.  Grant  all  the  sins  of 
omission  common  to  smug,  conservative  old  ladies! 
Grant  all  the  sins  of  commission — greed,  secrecy, 
craft,  subterfuge — common  the  world  over  to  monop- 
olies! 0/  these  things  and  more  was  the  Hudson^ s 
Bay  Company  guilty  in  its  long  despotic  reign  of 
two  hundred  years.    But  set  over  against  its  sins, 

395 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

this  other  jact,  a  record  which  no  other  organization 
in  the  world  may  boast — the  bloodless  conquest  oj  an 
empire  from  savagery! 

Apart  from  Selkirk's  friends,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  had  never  been  favorable  to  the  idea  of 
colonizing  Red  River.  Now  that  the  colonists  had 
opened  connections  with  American  traders  of  St. 
Paul,  it  became  evident  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  must 
relinquish  sovereignty  over  Red  River  Colony,  or 
buy  out  Selkirk's  interests  and  own  the  colony,  lock, 
stock  and  barrel.  In  1835,  the  heirs  of  Lord  Selkirk 
sold  back  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  the  vast 
grant  of  Red  River  for  some  ;^84,ooo.  The  sum 
seems  large,  but  I  doubt  if  it  covered  a  tenth  of  what 
Selkirk  had  spent,  for  it  will  be  recalled,  though  he 
intended  in  the  first  place  to  sell  the  land,  he  ended 
by  giving  it  to  the  settlers  scot  free.  To-day,  the 
sum  for  which  Selkirk's  heirs  sold  back  Red  River, 
would  hardly  buy  a  corner  lot  on  Main  Street,  Winni- 
peg. Selkirk's  heirs  retained  their  shares  in  Hud- 
son's Bay  stock,  which  ultimately  paid  them  back 
many  times  over  what  Selkirk  had  lost. 

Why  did  the  Company  buy  back  Red  River? 
Behold  the  sequence!  Settlers  are  crowding  into 
Minnesota.  The  settlers  of  Red  River  are  begin- 
ning to  ask  for  a  form  of  government.    They  want  to 

396 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


rule  themselves  as  the  Americans  do  south  of  the 
boundary.  Good!  The  Company  will  take  care 
there  is  no  independent  government  such  as  was  set 
up  in  Oregon  and  ended  by  ousting  the  fur  trader. 
The  Company  will  give  the  settlers  a  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  Council  of  Assiniboia  is  organized. 
President  of  the  Council  is  Sir  George  Simpson,  gov- 
ernor of  the  Company.  Vice-president  is  Alex 
Christie,  governor  of  the  colony;  and  the  other  thir- 
teen members  are  old  Hudson's  Bay  officers.  The 
government  of  Assiniboia  is  nothing  more  or  less  than 
a  Company  oligarchy;  but  that  serves  the  Hudson's 
Bay  better  than  an  independent  government,  or  a 
government  friendly  to  the  American  traders.  But 
deeper  and  more  practical  reason  lies  beneath  this 
move.  Selkirk's  colony  was  not  to  interfere  with  the 
fur  trade.  Before  the  Red  River  carts  set  out  for  St. 
Paul  it  is  customary  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  officers 
to  search  the  cargoes.  More!  They  search  the  set- 
tlers' houses,  poking  long  sticks  up  the  deep  set 
chimney  places  for  hidden  furs;  and  sometimes  the 
chimney  casts  out  cached  furs,  which  are  confiscated. 
Old  French  Nor'Westers  begin  to  ask  themselves — 
is  this  a  free  country?  The  Company  responds  by 
burning  down  the  shanties  of  two  hunters  on  Lake 
Manitoba  in  1826,  who  had  dared  to  trade  furs  from 
the  Indians.    These  furs,  the  two  Frenchmen  no 

397 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

doubt  meant  to  sell  to  St.  Paul  traders  who  paid  just 
four  times  higher  than  the  Hudson's  Bay.  Alto- 
gether, it  is  safer  for  the  Company  to  buy  but  Sel- 
kirk's colony  themselves  and  organize  laws  and 
police  to  enforce  the  laws — especially  the  supremest 
law — against  illicit  fur  trading. 

First  test  of  the  new  government  comes  in  1836, 
when  one  St.  Dennis  is  sentenced  to  be  flogged  for 
theft.  A  huge  De  Meuron  is  to  wield  the  lash,  but 
this  spectacle  of  jury  law  in  a  land  that  has  been 
ruled  by  paternalism  for  two  hundred  years,  ruled 
by  despot's  strong  right  arm — is  something  so  re- 
pugnant to  the  Plain  Rangers,  they  stone  the  execu- 
tioner and  chase  him  till  he  jumps  into  a  well.  In 
1844  is  issued  proclamation  that  all  business  letters 
sent  through  the  Company  must  be  left  open  for 
perusal,  and  that  land  will  be  deeded  to  settlers  only 
on  condition  of  forfeiture  if  illicit  trade  in  furs  be 
discovered.  In  fact,  as  that  intercourse  with  the 
American  traders  of  the  Mississippi  increases,  it  is 
as  difficult  for  the  Company  to  stop  illicit  fur  trading 
as  for  customs  officers  to  stop  smuggling. 

That  provisional  government  in  Oregon  had 
caught  the  Company  napping.  Not  so  shall  it  be 
in  Red  River.  If  the  despot  must  have  a  standing 
army  to  enforce  his  laws,  an  army  he  shall  have. 
The  experience  in  Oregon  furnishes  a  good  excuse. 

398 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


The  Company  asks  and  the  British  Government 
sends  out  the  Sixth  Royal  Regiment  of  five  hundred 
men  under  Colonel  Crofton.  Now  laws  shall  be 
enforced  and  provisional  governments  kept  loyal, 
and  when  Colonel  Crofton  leaves,  there  comes  in 
1848,  Colonel  Caldwell  with  one  hundred  old  pen- 
sioners, who  may  act  as  an  army  if  need  be,  but  settle 
down  as  colonists  and  impart  to  Red  River  some- 
what of  the  gayety  and  pomp  and  pleasure  seeking, 
leisurely  good  fellowship  of  English  garrison  life. 
Year  after  year  for  twenty  years,  crops  have  been 
bounteous.  Flocks  have  multiplied.  Granaries  are 
bursting  with  fullness  of  stores.  Though  there  is  no 
market,  there  is  plenty  in  the  land.  Though  there 
is  little  coin  current  of  the  realm,  there  is  no  want; 
and  the  people  stuck  off  here  at  the  back  of  beyond 
take  time  to  enjoy  life.  Thatched  shanties  have 
given  place  to  big,  spacious,  comfortable  houses; 
dog  sleighs  to  gay  cariolcs  with  horses  decked  in 
ribbons.  Horse  racing  is  the  passion  and  the  pas- 
time. Schools  and  embryo  colleges  and  churches 
have  been  established  by  the  missionaries  of  the 
different  denominations,  whose  pioneer  labors  are 
a  lxx)k  in  themselves.  It  is  a  happy  primitive  life, 
with  neither  wealth  nor  poverty,  of  almost  Arcadian 
simplicity,  and  cloudless  but  for  that  shadow — illicit 
trade,  monopoly.    Could  the  life  but  have  lasted,  I 

399 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

doubt  if  American  history  could  show  its  parallel  for 
quiet,  care-free,  happy-go-lucky,  thoughtless-of-the- 
morrow  contentment.  The  French  of  Acadia,  per- 
haps, somewhat  resembled  Red  River  colony,  but 
we  have  grown  to  view  Acadia  through  Longfellow's 
eyes.  Beneath  the  calm  surface  there  was  interna- 
tional intrigue.  IMilitary  life  gave  a  dash  of  color 
to  Red  River  that  Longfellow's  Acadians  never 
possessed;  but  beneath  the  calm  of  Red  River,  too, 
was  intrigue. 

Resentment  against  search  for  furs  grew  to  anger. 
The  explosion  came  over  a  poor  French  Plain  Ranger, 
William  Sayer,  and  three  friends,  arrested  for  accept- 
ing furs  from  Indians  in  May,  1849.  Judge  Thom, 
the  Company's  recorder,  was  to  preside  in  court. 
Thom  was  noted  for  hatred  for  the  French  in  his  old 
journalistic  days  in  Montreal.  The  arrest  suddenly 
became  a  social  question — the  French  Plain  Rangers 
of  the  old  Nor'Westers  against  the  English  Company, 
with  the  Scotch  settlers  looking  on  only  too  glad  of 
a  test  case  against  the  Company.  Louis  Riel,  an 
old  miller  of  the  Seine  near  St.  Boniface,  father  of 
the  Riel  to  become  notorious  later,  harangued  the 
Plain  Rangers  and  French  settlers  like  a  French  revo- 
lutionist discoursing  freedom.  The  day  of  the  trial, 
May  17th,  Plain  Rangers  were  seen  riding  from  all 
directions  to  the  Fort  Garry  Court  House.    At  10 

400 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


A.  M.  they  had  stacked  four  hundred  guns  against  the 
outer  wall  and  entered  the  court  in  a  body.  Not  till 
I  p.  M.  did  the  court  dare  to  call  for  the  prisoner, 
William  Sayer.  As  he  walked  to  the  bar  of  justice, 
the  Plain  Rangers  took  up  their  guns  and  followed 
him  in.  Boldly,  Sayer  pleaded  guilty  to  the  charge 
of  trading  furs.  It  was  to  be  a  test  case,  but  test 
cases  are  the  one  thing  on  earth  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  avoided.  The  excuse  was  instantly  un- 
earthed or  invented  that  a  man  connected  with  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  given  Sayer  permission; 
perhaps,  verbal  license  to  trade.  So  the  case  was 
compromised — a  verdict  of  guilty,  but  the  prisoner 
honorably  discharged  by  the  court.  The  Plain 
Rangers  took  no  heed  of  legal  quibbles.  To  them, 
the  trial  meant  that  henceforth  trade  was  free.  With 
howls  of  jubilation,  they  dashed  from  the  court 
carrying  Sayer  and  shouting,  "  Vive  la  liherU — com- 
merce is  free — trade  is  free";  and  spent  the  night 
discharging  volleys  of  triumph  and  celebrating  vic- 
tory. 

Isbister,  the  young  lawyer,  forwards  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  the  Colonies  petition  after  petition 
against  the  Company's  monopoly.  The  settlers,  who 
now  number  five  thousand,  demanded  liberty  of 
commerce  and  British  laws.  The  petitions  are 
ignored.    Isbister  vows  they  are  shelved  through  the 

401 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

intrigue  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  London. 
Then  five  hundred  settlers  petition  the  Legislature 
of  Canada.  The  Toronto  Board  of  Trade  takes  the 
matter  up  in  1857,  and  Canadian  surveyors  are  sent 
west  to  open  roads  to  Red  River.  ''It  is  plain,"  aver 
the  various  petitions  and  memorials  of  1857-59, 
"that  Red  River  settlement  is  being  driven  to  one  of 
two  destinies.  Either  she  must  be  permitted  to  join 
the  other  Canadian  colonies,  or  she  will  be  absorbed 
by  a  provisional  American  government  such  as 
captured  Oregon."  Sir  George  Simpson,  prince  of 
tacticians,  dies.  Both  the  British  Government  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  are  at  sea.  There  is  no 
denying  what  happened  to  Oregon  when  the  Com- 
pany held  on  too  long.  They  drove  Oregon  into 
Congress.  May  not  the  same  thing  happen  in  Red 
River — in  which  case  the  Company's  compensation 
will  be  nil.  Then — there  is  untold  history  here — a 
story  that  must  be  carried  on  where  I  leave  off  and 
which  will  probably  never  be  fully  told  till  the 
leading  actors  in  it  have  passed  away.  There 
are  ugly  rumors  of  a  big  fund  among  the  Minne- 
sota traders,  as  much  as  a  million  dollars,  to  be 
used  for  secret  service  money  to  swing  Red  River 
Settlement  into  the  American  Union.  Was  it  a 
Fenian  fund?  Who  held  the  fund?  Who  set  the 
scheme  going? 

402 


The  Passing  of  the  Covipany 


The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  knows  nothing.  It 
only  fears.  The  British  Government  knows  nothing; 
except  that  in  such  a  way  did  it  lose  Oregon;  and 
the  United  States  is  now  buying  Alaska  from  Russia. 
With  its  policy  of  matchless  foresight,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  realizes  it  is  wiser  to  retire  early  with 
the  laurels  and  rewards  than  to  retreat  too  late 
stripped.  The  question  of  renewing  the  license  on 
Vancouver  Island  is  on  the  carpet.  The  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  welcomes  a  Parliamentary  Enquiry 
into  every  branch  of  its  operations.  ''We  would  be 
glad  to  get  rid  of  the  enormous  burden  of  governing 
these  territories,  ij  it  can  he  done  equitably  as  to  our 
possessory  rights, ^^  the  Company  informs  the  as- 
tonished Parliamentary  Committee. 

How  stand  those  possessory  rights  under  the  terms 
of  union  in  1821?  It  will  be  remembered  the  charter 
rights  were  not  then  tested.  They  were  merged 
with  the  Northwest  Company  rights,  and  without 
any  test  a  license  of  exclusive  trade  granted  for 
twenty-one  years.  That  license  was  renewed  in  1838 
for  another  twenty-one  years.  This  term  is  just  ex- 
piring when  the  Company  declares  it  would  be  glad 
to  be  rid  of  its  burden,  and  welcomes  a  Parliamen- 
tary Enquiry.  At  that  inquiry,  friends  and  foes  alike 
testify.  Old  officers  like  Ellice  give  evidence.  So 
do  Sir  George  Simpson,  and  Blanchard  of  Van- 

403 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

couver  Island,  and  Isbister  as  representative  of  the 
Red  River  colonists,  and  Chief  Justice  Draper  as 
representative  of  Canada.  It  is  brought  out  the 
Company  rules  under  three  distinct  licenses: 

(i)  Over  Rupert's  Land  or  the  territory  of  the  bay 
proper  by  right  of  its  first  charter. 

(2)  Over  Vancouver  Island  by  special  grant  of 
1849. 

(3)  Over  all  the  Indian  Territory  between  the 
bay  and  Vancouver  Island  by  the  license  of  1821 
since  renewed. 

The  Parliamentary  committee  recommend  on 
July  31,  1857,  that  Vancouver  Island  be  given  up; 
that  just  as  soon  as  Canada  is  ready  to  take  over  the 
government  of  the  Indian  Territory  this,  too,  shall  be 
ceded ;  but  that  for  the  present  in  order  to  avoid  the 
demoralization  of  Indians  by  rival  traders,  'Rupert's 
Land  be  left  in  the  exclusive  control  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  This  is  the  condition  of  affairs 
when  unrest  arises  in  Red  River. 

The  committee  also  bring  out  the  fact  that  the 
capital  has  been  increased  since  the  union  of  1821  to 
;^5oo,ooo.  Of  the  .one  hundred  shares  into  which 
this  is  divided,  forty  have  been  set  aside  for  the  win- 
tering partners  or  cliief  factors  and  chief  traders. 
These  forty  shares  are  again  subdivided  into  eighty- 
five  parts.     Two  eighty-fifths  of  the  profits  equal  to 

404 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


$3,cxx)  a  year  and  a  retiring  fund  of  $20,000  are  the 
share  of  a  chief  factor;  one  eighty-fifth,  the  share 
of  a  chief  trader.  This  is  what  is  known  as  ''the 
deed  poll." 

Meanwhile,  out  in  Red  River,  gold  seekers  bound 
for  Cariboo,  prospectors  for  the  bad  lands  of  Mon- 
tana, settlers  for  the  farms  of  Minnesota — roll  past 
in  a  tide.  Trade  increases  in  jumps.  A  steamer 
runs  on  Red  River  connecting  by  stage  for  St.  Paul. 
Among  the  hosts  of  new  comers  to  Red  River  is  one 
Doctor  Schultz,  who  helps  to  establish  the  newspaper, 
Nor^  Wester,  which  paper  has  the  amazing  temerity, 
in  1867,  to  advocate  that  in  the  Council  of  Assiniboia 
there  should  be  some  representative  of  the  people 
independent  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  A 
vacancy  occurs  in  the  council.  The  N  of  Wester 
advocates  that  Dr.  John  Schultz  would  be  an  excel- 
lent representative  to  fill  that  vacancy.  A  great  many 
of  the  settlers  think  so,  too;  for  among  other  new- 
comers to  the  colony  is  one  Thomas  Spence,  of 
Portage  la  Prairie,  who  is  for  setting  up  a  provisional 
government  of  Manitoba.  A  government  inde- 
pendent of  British  connection  means  only  one  thing 
— annexation.  The  settlers  want  to  see  Schultz  on 
the  Council  of  Assiniboia  to  counteract  domination 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  and  to  steer  away  from  annex- 

405 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

ation.  Not  so  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Schultz's 
paper  has  attacked  them  from  the  first,  and  the  Httle 
store  of  which  he  is  part  proprietor,  has  been  defiant 
opposition  under  their  very  noses.  But  this  council 
business  is  too  much.  They  will  squelch  Schultz, 
and  do  it  legally,  too.  In  all  new  countries,  the 
majority  of  pioneers  are  at  some  stage  of  the  game 
in  debt.  Against  Schultz's  firm  stood  a  debt  of  a 
few  hundred  dollars.  Schultz  swore  he  had  dis- 
charged the  debt  by  paying  the  money  to  his  partner. 
Owing  to  his  partner's  absence  in  England,  his  evi- 
dence could  neither  be  proved  nor  disproved.  The 
Company  did  not  wait.  Judgment  was  entered 
against  Schultz  and  the  sheriff  sent  to  seize  his  goods. 
Moral  resistance  failing,  Schultz  resisted  somewhat 
vigorously  with  the  poker.  This  was  misdemeanor 
with  a  vengeance — probably  the  very  thing  his  ene- 
mies hoped,  for  he  was  quickly  overpowered,  tied 
round  the  arms  with  ropes,  and  whisked  ofif  in  a 
cariole  to  prison.  But  his  opponents  had  not 
counted  on  his  wife — the  future  Lady  Schultz,  life 
partner  of  the  man  who  was  governor  of  Manitoba 
for  eight  years.  That  very  night  the  wife  of  the 
future  Sir  John  led  fifteen  men  across  to  the  prison, 
ordered  the  guides  knocked  aside,  the  doors  battered 
open,  and  her  husband  liberated.  His  arrest  was 
not  again  attempted,  and  at  a  later  trial  for  the  debt, 

406 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


Schultz  was  vindicated.    His  party  emerged  from 
the  fracas  ten  times  stronger. 

Here,  then,  were  j:hree  parties  all  at  daggers  drawn 
— the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  standing  stiffly  for 
the  old  order  of  things  and  marking  time  till  the 
negotiations  in  England  gave  some  cue  for  a  new 
policy;  the  colonists  asking  for  a  representative  gov- 
ernment, which  meant  union  with  Canada,  waiting 
till  negotiations  for  Confederation  gave  them  some 
cue;  the  independents,  furtive,  almost  nameless, 
working  in  the  dark,  hand  in  hand  with  that  million 
dollar  fund,  watching  for  their  opportunity.  And 
there  was  a  fourth  party  more  inflammable  than 
these — the  descendants  of  the  old  Nor' Westers — the 
Plain  Rangers,  French  Metis  all  of  them,  led  by 
Louis  Riel,  son  of  the  old  miller,  wondering  rest- 
lessly what  their  part  was  to  be  in  the  reorganization. 
Were  their  lands  to  be  taken  away  by  these  sur- 
veyors coming  from  Canada?  Were  they  to  be 
whistled  by  the  independents  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes?  They  and  their  fathers  had  found  this 
land  and  explored  it  and  ranged  its  prairies  from 
time  immemorial.  Who  had  better  right  than  the 
French  Half-breeds  to  this  country.  Compared 
to  them,  the  Scotch  settlers  were  as  newcomers. 
Of  them,  the  other  three  parties  were  taking 
small  thought.    The  Metis  rallied  to  Louis  Kiel's 

407 


TJw  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

standard  to  protect  their  rights,  whichever  of  the 
other  three  parties  came  uppermost  in  the  struggle. 
Poor  children  of  the  wilds,  of  a  free  wilderness  life 
forever  past !  Their  leader  was  unworthy,  and  their 
stand  a  vain  breakwater  against  the  inward  rolling 
tide  of  events  resistless  as  destiny! 

The  Company  had  told  the  Parliamentary  Com- 
mittee of  '57  that  it  would  willingly  remit  the  burden 
of  governing  its  enormous  territory  if  adequate  re- 
turns were  made  for  its  possessory  rights.  Without 
going  into  the  question  of  these  rights,  a  syndicate 
of  capitalists,  called  the  International  Financial  As- 
sociation, jumped  at  the  chance  to  buy  out  the  old 
Hudson's  JBay.  Chief  negotiator  was  Edward  Wat- 
kins,  who  was  planning  telegraph  and  railroad 
schemes  for  British  America.  "About  what  would 
the  price  be?"  he  had  casually  asked  Ellice,  now  an 
old  man — the  same  Ellice  who  had  negotiated  the 
union  of  Hudson's  Bay  and  Nor' Westers  in  '21. 
*'Oh,  perhaps  a  million-and-a-half,"  ruminated 
Ellice;  but  Berens,  whose  family  had  held  Hudson's 
Bay  stock  for  generations,  was  of  a  different  mind. 
"What?"  he  roared  in  a  manner  the  quintessence 
of  insult,  "sequester  our  lands?  Let  settlers  go  in  on 
our  hunting  ground?"  But  the  cooler  heads  proved 
the  wiser  heads.     It  was  "take  what  you  can  get 

408 


The  Passing  of  the  Compaiiy 


now,  or  risk  losing  all  later!  Whether  you  will  or 
not,  charter  or  no  charter,  settlers  are  coming  and 
can*"!  be  stopped.  Canadian  politicians  are  talking 
of  your  charter  as  an  outrage,  as  spoliation!  Their 
surveyors  are  already  on  the  ground!  Judge  for 
yourselves  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  risk  the  repe- 
tition of  Oregon;  or  attempt  resisting  settlement." 

Members  of  the  International  Financial  Asso- 
ciation met  Berens,  Colville — representative  of  the 
Selkirk  interests — and  two  other  Hudson's  Bay 
directors  in  the  dark  old  office  of  the  Board  Room, 
Fenchurch  Street,  on  the  ist  of  February,  in  1862. 
Watkins  describes  the  room  as  dingy  with  faded 
green  cover  on  the  long  table  and  worn  dust-grimed 
chairs.  Berens  continued  to  storm  like  a  fishwife; 
but  it  was  probably  part  of  the  game.  On  June  i, 
1863,  the  International  Association  bought  out  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  £1,500,000.  The  Com- 
pany that  had  begun  in  Radisson's  day,  two  hundred 
years  before,  with  a  capital  of  $50,000  (;,{^  10,000)  now 
sold  to  the  syndicate  for  $7,500,000,  and  the  stock 
was  resold  to  new  shareholders  in  a  new  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  at  a  still  larger  capital.  The  ques- 
tion was  what  to  do  about  the  forty  shares  belong- 
ing to  the  chief  factors  and  traders.  When  word  of 
the  sale  came  to  them  in  Canada,  they  naturally  felt 
as  the  minority  shareholder  always  feels — that  they 

409 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

had  been  sold  out  without  any  compensation,  and  the 
indignation  in  the  service  was  universal.  But  this 
injustice  was  avoided  by  another  unexpected  move 
in  the  game. 

While  financiers  were  dickering  for  Hudson's  Bay 
stock,  Canadian  politicians  brought  about  confede- 
ration of  all  the  Canadian  colonies  in  1867,  and  a 
clause  had  been  introduced  in  the  British  North 
America  Act  that  it  should  ''be  lawful  to  admit 
Rupert's  Land  and  the  Northwest  Territories  into 
the  Union."  The  Hon.  William  McDougall  had 
introduced  resolutions  in  the  Canadian  House  pray- 
ing that  Rupert's  Land  be  united  in  the  Confedera- 
tion. With  this  end  in  view.  Sir  George  Cartier  and 
Mr.  McDougall  proceeded  to  England  to  negotiate 
with  the  Company.  In  October,  1869,  the  new  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  relinquished  all  charter  and  ex- 
clusive rights  to  the  Dominion.  The  Dominion  in 
turn  paid  over  to  the  Company  £300,000;  granted  it 
one-twentieth  of  the  arable  land  in  its  territory,  and 
ceded  to  it  rights  to  the  land  on  which  its  forts  were 
built.  From  the  ;^30o,ooo,  paid  by  Canada,  £157,055 
were  set  aside  to  buy  out  the  rights  of  the  wintering 
partners.  How  valuable  one-twentieth  of  the  arable 
land  was  to  prove,  the  Company,  itself,  did  not 
realize  till  recent  days,  and  what  wealth  it  gained 
from  the  cession  of  land  where  its  forts  stood,  may  be 

410 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


guessed  from  the  fact  that  at  Fort  Garry  (Winnipeg) 
this  land  comprised  five  hundred  acres  of  what  are 
now  city  lots  at  metropolitan  values.  Where  its 
forts  stood,  it  had  surely  won  its  laurels,  for  the 
ground  was  literally  baptized  with  the  blood  of  its 
early  traders;  just  as  the  tax-free  sites  of  rich  reli- 
gious orders  in  Quebec  were  long  ago  won  by  the 
blood  of  Catholic  martyrs  of  whom  newcomers  knew 
nothing.  Whether  the  rest  of  the  bargain — the  pay- 
ment of  ;i^3oo,ooo  for  charter  rights,  which  Canadians 
repudiated,  and  the  cession  of  one- twentieth  of  the 
country's  arable  land — were  as  good  a  bargain  for 
Canada  as  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  I  must 
leave  to  be  discussed  by  the  writer  who  takes  up  the 
story  where  I  leave  off.  Certainly  both  sides  have 
made  tremendous  gains  from  the  bargain. 

A  year  later,  Red  River  Settlement  came  into 
Confederation  under  the  name  which  Spcnce  had 
given  the  country  of  his  Provisional  Government — 
Manitoba,  "the  country  of  the  people  of  the  lakes." 

So  passed  the  Company  as  an  empire  builder.  In 
Oregon,  its  passing  was  marked  by  the  terrible  con- 
flagration of  Indian  massacres.  In  British  Colum- 
bia, the  old  order  gave  place  to  the  new  in  a  wild 
gold  stampede.  In  Manitoba,  the  monopoly  had 
not  been  surrendered  before  Riel  put  a  match  to  the 

411 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 

inflammable  passions  of  his  wild  Plain  Rangers, 
that  set  the  country  in  a  flame. 

As  for  the  Company,  it  had  played  its  part,  and  its 
day  was  done.  On  that  part,  I  have  no  verdict.  Its 
history  is  its  verdict,  and  it  is  only  fair  to  judge  it  by 
the  codes  of  feudalism  rather  than  democracy. 
Judging  by  the  codes  of  feudalism,  there  are  few 
baronial  or  royal  houses  of  two  hundred  years' 
reign  with  as  little  to  blush  for  or  hide  away  among 
family  skeletons  as  the  "Gentlemen  Adventurers 
Trading  to  Hudson's  Bay."  Trickery?  To  be  sure ; 
but  then,  it  was  an  old  order  fighting  a  new,  an  old 
fencer  trying  to  parry  the  fancy  thrusts  of  an  enemy 
with  a  new  style  of  sword  play.  The  old  order  was 
Feudalism.     The  new  was  Democracy. 

The  Company's  ships  still  ply  the  waters  of  the 
North.  Its  canoe  brigades  still  bring  in  the  furs  to  the 
far  fur  posts.  Its  mid- winter  dog  trains  still  set 
the  bells  tinkling  over  the  lonely  wastes  of  Northern 
snows  and  it  still  sells  as  much  fur  at  its  great  annual 
sales  as  in  its  palmiest  days.  But  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  is  no  longer  a  gay  Adventurer  setting  sail 
over  the  seas  of  the  Unknown.  It  is  no  longer  a 
Soldier  of  Fortune,  with  laugh  for  life  or  death  carv- 
ing a  path  through  the  wilderness.  It  is  now  but  a 
commercial  organization  with  methods  similar  to 
other  money-getting  companies.     Free  traders  over- 

412 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


run  its  hunting  grounds.  Rivals  as  powerful  as  itself 
are  now  on  the  field  fighting  the  battle  of  competition 
according  to  modem  methods  of  business  rivalry. 
Three-quarters  of  its  old  hunting  fields  are  already 
carved  up  in  the  checkerboard  squares  of  new 
provinces  and  fenced  farm  patches.  The  glories 
of  the  days  of  its  empire  as  Adventurer,  as  Soldier  of 
Fortune,  as  Pathfinder,  as  Fighter,  as  Gamester  of 
the  Wilderness — have  gone  forever  to  that  mellow 
Golden  Age  of  the  Heroic  Past. 

Notes  to  Chapter  XXXIV. — The  authorities  for  this  chapter 
are  H.  B.  C.  Archives;  the  Pari.  Report  of  1857;  Canadian  Han- 
sard, and  local  data  gathered  on  the  spot  when  I  iived  in  Winni- 
peg. Dr.  George  Bryce  is  the  only  writer  who  has  ever  at- 
tempted to  tell  the  true  inward  story  of  the  first  Riel  Rebellion. 
I  do  not  refer  to  his  hints  of  "priestly  plots."  These  had  best 
been  given  in  full  or  left  unsaid,  but  I  do  refer  to  his  reference  to 
the  danger  of  Red  River  going  as  Oregon  had  gone — over  to  a 
Provisional  Government,  which  would  have  meant  war;  and  I 
cannot  sufficiently  regret  that  this  story  is  not  given  in  full. 
In  another  generation,  there  will  be  no  one  living  who  can  tell 
that  story;  and  yet  one  can  understand  why  it  may  have  to 
remain  untold  as  long  as  the  leading  actors  are  alive. 

I  do  not  touch  on  the  Riel  Rebellion  in  this  chapter,  as  it 
belongs  to  the  history  of  the  colony  rather  than  the  company; 
and  if  I  gave  it,  I  should  also  have  to  give  the  Whitman  Massa- 
cres of  Oregon  and  the  Gold  Stampede  of  B.  C.  which  I  do  not 
consider  inside  the  scope  of  the  history  of  the  company  as 
empire  builder.  Much  of  thrilling  interest  in  the  lives  of  the 
colonists  I  have  been  compelled  to  omit  for  the  same  reason; 
for  instance,  the  Sioux  massacres  in  Minnesota,  the  adventures 
of  the  buffalo  hunters,  such  heroism  as  that  of  Hesse,  the  flood 
in  Red  River,  the  splendid  work  of  the  different  missionaries  as 
they  came,  the  comical  half  garrison  life  of  the  old  pensioners, 
including  the  terrible  suicide  of  an  officer  at  Fort  Douglas  over 
a  love  affair.  Whoever  tells  the  story  where  I  have  left  off  will 
have  these  pegs  to  hang  his  chapters  on;  and  I  envy  him  the 
pleasure  of  his  work,   whether  tne  story  be  swung  along  as  a 


The  Conquest  of  the  Great  Northwest 


record  of  the  pioneer,  or  of  Lord  Strathcona  —  the  Frontenac 
of  the  West — or  of  the  great  Western  missionaries. 

Two  or  three  discrepancies  bother  me  in  this  chapter,  which 
the  wise  may  worry  over,  and  the  innocent  leave  alone.  In 
Pari.  Inquiry,  1857,  Ellice  gives  the  united  capital  of  H.  B.  C. 
and  N.  W.  C.  in  182 1,  as  ;^4oo,ooo.  As  I  made  transcripts  of 
the  minutes  in  H.  B.  C.  House,  London,  I  made  it  ;£2 50,000, 
In  any  case,  it  was  increased  to  five  before  the  Int.  Fin.  Asso- 
ciation took  hold. 

Another  point,  the  new  company  paid  ;^i, 500,000  for  the 
stock.  The  stock  sold  to  the  public  totalled  a  larger  capital — 
much  larger.  I  do  not  give  this  total,  though  I  have  it,  because 
at  a  subsequent  period  the  company  retired  part  of  its  capital 
by  returning  it  to  the  shareholders,  if  you  like  to  put  it  that  way ; 
or  paying  a  dividend  which  practically  amounted  to  a  retire- 
ment. That  comes  so  late  in  the  Company's  history,  I  feel  it 
has  no  place  here.  Therefore,  to  name  the  former  large  capital 
would  probably  only  mislead  the  reader. 

It  was  in  the  days  of  Alex  MacDonell,  the  grasshopper  gov- 
ernor, that  the  traders  used  to  turn  a  whiskey  bottle  upside 
down  filled  with  sand,  neck  to  neck  on  another  whiskey  bottle, 
making  an  hour-glass,  and  drink  till  all  the  sand  ran  from  the 
upper  bottle,  when  if  the  thirst  was  not  quenched,  both  bottles 
were  reversed  to  begin  the  revels  over  again.  If  tradition  is  to 
be  trusted,  the  same  hour  bottle  was  much  to  blame  for  the 
failures  of  the  experimental  farms. 

The  widow  of  John  Clarke,  who  came  a  bride  to  the  West  in 
1822,  and  lived  in  the  palmy  Arcadian  days  of  Red  River,  is 
still  living  in  Montreal,  aged  105,  and  has  just  at  this  date  (1907) 
had  her  daughter  issue  a  little  booklet  of  the  most  charmingly 
quaint  reminiscences  I  have  enjoyed  in  many  a  day. 

Ross  and  Hargrave  and  Gunn  are  the  great  authorities  for 
the  days  between  1820  and  1870,  with  other  special  papers  to 
be  found  in  the  Manitoba  Hist.  Soc.  Series. 

In  several  places  I  use  dollar  terms.  Down  to  1870  all  H. 
B.  C.  calculations  were  in  £,  s.,  d. 

One  there  is  who  owes  the  world  her  reminiscences  of  this 
fascinating  era;  and  that  is  Lady  Schultz,  but  the  people  who 
have  lived  adventure  are  not  keen  for  the  limelight  of  telling 
it,  and  I  fear  this  story  will  not  be  given  to  the  world. 

414 


The  Passing  of  the  Company 


It  may  be  interesting  to  admirers  of  that  campaigner  of  the 
Conservative  Party,  Sir  John  MacDonald,  to  know  that  the 
terms  "  spoliation  and  outrage  "  as  apphed  to  the  H.  B.  C.  charters 
originated  in  a  speech  of  Sir  John's. 

The  adventures  of  the  Swiss,  who  moved  from  Red  River 
down  to  Fort  Snelling,  at  St.  Paul,  will  be  found  very  fully 
given  in  the  Minnesota  Hist.  Society's  Collections  and  in  the 
Macalester  College  Collections  of  St.  Paul.  Mrs.  Charlotte 
Ouisconsin  Van  Qeve's  Memoirs  of  Fort  Snelling  tell  the  tragic 
tale  of  the  Tully  murder  in  1823^,  when  the  little  boy,  John,  of 
Red  River,  was  brought  into  Fort  Snelling  half  scalped,  and 
Andrew  was  adopted  into  her  own  family. 


THE   END 


415 


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